‘WORKING ON SEPARATING FROM WORK LIFE’ Page 12

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MONEY 8CBDT SEES RS 880-CR INCOME ‘CON-

CEALED’ AFTER SURVEY ON FIRM

ANALYSIS 7THE STORY OF POLICIES AND

FARMERS WORKING TOGETHER

SPORTS 11EQUAL POINTS SYSTEM

FOR NEXT WTC

}‘WORKING ONSEPARATING PRIVATE LIFE

FROM WORK LIFE’Page 12

{

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VVIIJJAAYYAAWWAADDAAWWEEAATTHHEERR

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated JULY 14, 2021 5:00 PM

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Good Time : (to start any important work)

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State government onWednesday constituted a Group ofMinisters to monitor the ‘YSRJagananna Saswata Bhu HakkuMariyu Bhu Raksha Padhakam’land resurvey project that will betaken up by using the latest tech-nologies available.

In the last Cabinet meeting, itwas decided to constitute a Subc-ommittee to monitor the resurveyproject, part of the YSRCP govern-ment’s bouquet of f lagshipschemes, on a weekly basis for itseffective implementation.

Accordingly, the governmenton Wednesday constituted theGoM, with Deputy Chief MinisterDharmana Krishna Das, MunicipalMinister Botsa Satyanarayana andPanchayat Raj and Rural

Development Minister PedireddyRamachandra Reddy as members.Ramachandra Reddy will serve asthe member-convener.

The Group of Ministers willmeet at least once in a week tomonitor the progress of the pro-gramme and has been authorisedto take any necessary action to sortout any issues and submit a reportto the government.

The State government has givenadministrative approval for theexpenditure that will be incurredfor the resurvey project, which itsays is taken up for the first timein the state in 100 years. Such amammoth and comprehensiveland survey in the State was carriedout by the British in 1930. Afterthat, no government had taken upresurvey.

SNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy is said to be giving finaltouches to a long list of nominat-ed posts that are to be filled in sev-eral corporations, trusts and bod-ies. The list is expected to be madepublic any time this week.

Ever since the YSRCP registeredback-to-back landslide victories inelections to rural and urban bod-ies, as well as the by-poll to theTirupati Lok Sabha, the YSRCPsupremo has shifted focus on fill-ing the posts in around 80 odd cor-porations and other governmentbodies, it is said.

Accordingly, party MLAs wereasked to send names of the eligibleand deserving cadre to the YSRCPcentral leadership to prepare the list.According to YSRCP insiders, socialengineering has been the basis ofthe list prepared and presented tothe Chief Minister a few days ago.

Party insiders said that 50 per-cent of the posts will go to womenand a majority of them will also goto BCs, SCs and STs. Jagan hadalready filled the posts of variouscaste related corporations includ-ing more than 50 for several BCgroups.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a major setback to the ACB, theAndhra Pradesh High Court onWednesday quashed the petitionfiled by the probe agency againstgranting bail to TDP leaderDhulipalla Narendra Kumar.

The High Court rejected thepetition filed by the ACB seekingcancellation of the bail granted toNarendra Kumar, citing it did notsee sufficient grounds to do so inthis instance.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh governmenton Wednesday transferred 12Indian Police Service officers andleft one of them waiting for a newposting. Another officer, who hasbeen on wait for the past fewweeks, got a fresh posting in thereshuffle. In the process, threemore districts got new policechiefs after six last week.

Rahul Dev Sharma of the 2010batch has been posted asSuperintendent of Police, WestGodavari district.

Aishwarya Rastogi (2013) hasbeen made the SP of RajahmundryUrban police district and Malika

Garg (2015) the SP of Prakasamdistrict.

Koya Praveen (2009) has beenposted as SP of Organisation forCounter Terror Operations(Octopus). He has also been givenfull additional charge as SP, PoliceTransport Organisation, accordingto an order issued by ChiefSecretary Aditya Nath Das.

Sheemushi Bajpayee has beenposted as SP, Vigilance andEnforcement, Rahul Dev Singh(2015) as SP, Government RailwayPolice and Vakul Jindal (2016) asSP, Chief Minister’s SecurityGroup.

SC to examine fresh pleachallenging sedition lawPNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Thursdayagreed to examine a fresh plea bya former army officer challeng-ing the Constitutional validity ofthe sedition law on the groundthat it causes "chilling effect" onspeech and is an unreasonablerestriction on free expression, afundamental right.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice N V Ramana, A SBopanna and Hrishikesh Roydirected the petitioner to serve acopy of the plea to the AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal.

The plea, filed by Major-General S G Vombatkere (Retd)submitted that Section 124-A ofthe Indian Penal Code, whichdeals with the offence of sedition,is wholly unconstitutional andshould be “unequivocally andunambiguously struck down".

“The petitioner contends thata statute criminalising expressionbased on unconstitutionallyvague definitions of 'disaffectiontowards Government' etc. is anunreasonable restriction on thefundamental right to free expres-sion guaranteed under Article19(1)(a) and causes constitu-

tionally impermissible 'ChillingEffect' on speech", the plea said.

The petition told the SupremeCourt there was a need to takeinto account the "march of thetimes and the development of thelaw" before dealing with Section124-A. Earlier, a separate benchof the top court had soughtresponse from the Centre on aplea challenging theConstitutional validity of seditionlaw, filed by two journalists --Kishorechandra Wangkhe mchaand Kanhaiya Lal Shukla --working in Manipur andChhattisgarh respectively.

Centre restores DA forstaff; raises it to 28 pcPNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Cabinet on Wednesdaydecided to restore DearnessAllowance (DA) and DearnessRelief (DR) for central governmentemployees and pensioners fromJuly 1, 2021 while increasing therate of allowance to 28 per cent.

The increase in the DA and DRwill impose an additional annualburden of Rs 34,401 crore on the

exchequer, Minister of Informationand Broadcasting Anurag Thakurtold reporters after the cabinetmeeting. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UnionGovernment had frozen the threeadditional instalments of the DAand DR which were due fromJanuary 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 andJanuary 1, 2021.

AP moves SC to stop TS fromgenerating power ‘illegally’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh governmenton Wednesday moved the SupremeCourt to stop Telangana from ille-gally using Krishna river water togenerate power from the projectscommon to both the Telugu states.

The AP government filed a peti-tion under Article 32 of theConstitution "to protect the funda-mental right of its people, includ-ing the right to life of its citizens".

The petition stated that the levelat the Srisailam reservoir has seri-ously depleted on account of theuse of water to generate power byTelangana.

In its petition, the AP govern-ment said that it had requestedTelangana to stop the same but itwas not complied with. “Theactions of the Telangana govern-ment are unconstitutional and inviolation of the right to life of thepeople of Andhra Pradesh,” the APgovernment said in its petition.

It also accused the Telanganagovernment of not paying heed todirectives of the Krishna RiverManagement Board to stop the po-wer generation refusing to followdecisions taken by the Apex Cou-ncil constituted under the AndhraPradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The petition further submittedthat Section 87 deals with“Jurisdiction of Board” and stipu-lates that the Board shall ordinar-ily exercise jurisdiction on“Godavari and Krishna rivers inregard to any of the projects over-head works.

The petition urged the SupremeCourt to issue directions to theUnion government to immediate-ly issue notification fixing thejurisdiction of KRMB. The plea fur-ther sought instructions to theCentre to take over inter-stateprojects and deploy CISF person-nel for the safety and security of theprojects and all inter-state irrigation

and power projects to be treated asnational projects to avoid frequentdisputes and legal litigations

between the states on sharing ofwater and power.

HC refuses to cancelDhulipala bail

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The National Bank for Agricultureand Rural Development has saidthat no request from theGovernment of India is pendingwith it for release of funds for thePolavaram irrigation project inAndhra Pradesh.

The NABARD disclosed thisunder the Right to Information Actto queries on the funds status forPolavaram.

RTI activist V Ramesh ChandraVarma sought information on pay-ments made for the Polavaramproject.

"As of July 9, NABARD hasreleased an aggregate amount of Rs10,231.36 crore to the NationalWater Development Agency(NWDA) towards Polavaram irri-gation project. No request forrelease of funds is pending withNABARD towards Polavaram," itsaid in the RTI response.

The NWDA so far repaid Rs283.25 crore under the Polavaramhead, the NABARD said.

The Centre has tied up funds forPolavaram that has been declareda national project throughNABARD.

As the project executor, the

Andhra Pradesh government firstspends the amount on Polavaramand the Union government subse-quently reimburses it throughNABARD.

No request from Centre pendingon Polavaram funds: NABARD

Jagan readies list ofnominated posts

ML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

It is ironical that those who ha-ve no right to utilise the Krishnariver waters for the RayalaseemaLift Irrigation Scheme haveapproached the court and theAndhra Pradesh government isresorting to construction of ille-gal irrigation projects thoughthere is no water availability, TRSgeneral secretaries concurredhere on Wednesday.

The TRS could not be a silentspectator if others resorted totheft of water and constructionof irrigation projects at will,they said. “We will protect ourrights over river waters,” theyasserted.

Party working president andIT Minister KT Rama Rao

presided over the general secre-taries’ meeting at TelanganaBhavan here on Wednesday toreview the latest political devel-opments in the State and meas-ures to strengthen the party’sorganisational structure.

After the latest membershipdrive launched before theGraduates MLC elections, themembership of TelanganaRashtra Samithi in the Statetouched 61 lakh -- highest forany regional party in the coun-try. Palla Rajeswar Reddy, MLCand party general secretary, toldmedia persons that the details of48 lakh members had been dig-itized so far and the remainingwork would be completed byJuly 20.

Can’t be mute spectators toillegal projects of AP: TRS

Sputnik V

vaccination

starts in

Vijayawada

GoM to monitor land resurvey projectAP govt reshuffles12 more IPS officers

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Cabinet on Wednesdayapproved the extension by sixmonths of the term of theCommission constituted to exam-ine the issue of sub-categorisationwithin OBC in the Central List.

The proposed extension oftenure up to January 31, 2022 andaddition in its terms of referenceshall enable the Commission tosubmit a comprehensive report onthe issue of sub-categorisation ofOther Backward Classes (OBCs),after consultation with variousstakeholders, the governmentsaid in a statement.

This is the eleventh extensionof the term of the Commissionconstituted under Article 340 ofthe Constitution.

Centre extends term of panel on sub-categorisationwithin OBCs

‘BLATANT VIOLATION' OF COVID NORMS:MHA SUGGESTS STATES TO TAKE ACTION

MINISTER REJECTS KITEX ALLEGATIONS,SAYS KERALA IS INVESTMENT-FRIENDLY

WELFARE SCHEMES FOR MINORITIES ARE‘LEGALLY VALID’: CENTRE INFORMS SC

BJP HAD OPPOSED STERILISATION DRIVEIN 1970s, REMINDS CHHATTISGARH CM

Dismissing as baseless KITEX group chairman Sabu Jacob'sallegation that the atmosphere in Kerala is not industry-friendly,state Industries Minister P Rajeev on Wednesday said his

government stands for "responsible investment" and the southernstate would be made a destination of suchinvestments in few years. In an exclusiveinterview to PTI, Rajeev said the focus of thegovernment is to attract green industriesand IT-based industries in Kerala as landscarcity and environmental issuesassociated with it have been a problem inthe state. "We are always taking a stand infavour of investment, in favour ofindustries,” said Rajeev.

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that welfare schemes forreligious minority communities are “legally valid” which aims toreduce the inequalities and does not violate the rights of

members of Hindus or other communities. The submission wasmade in an affidavit filed in response to apetition which said welfare schemes cannotbe based on religion. "It is submitted that theschemes being implemented by the Ministryare to reduce the inequalities among theminority communities and to improve thelevel of education, participation inemployment, skill and entrepreneurshipdevelopment, reducing deficiencies in civicamenities or infrastructure.

Amid push for a population control policy by some BJP-ruledstates, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel onWednesday said had the BJP not opposed the sterilisation drive

in the 1970s the population would have not increased so much. Healso said creating public awareness is moreimportant to contain the population growthrather than enacting laws. Talking toreporters at Raipur airport before leaving forNagpur, Baghel also said if the oppositionparties had not opposed the 'nasbandi'(sterilization) drive in the 1970s (launchedunder the then Indira Gandhi government)the population would not have increased somuch.

The Union Home Ministry Wednesday said blatant violationsof COVID-19 norms have been observed in several parts ofthe country, including hill stations, and asked states and

union territories to take action against officials responsible forensuring compliance to laid downguidelines. In a letter to all states andUTs, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhallaalso said Covid-appropriate behaviour isnot being adhered to in public transportand massive crowds are throngingmarketplaces, violating social distancingnorms. Bhalla emphasised the secondwave of Covid is not yet over and thereis no room for complacency.

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vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 15, 2021

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Some prominent news-papers have recentlyreported that the

Centre is contemplating totake over the maintenanceand operation of all disputedinter-state water projectsacross the country. The rep-orts add that the projects onKrishna, Godavari, Tungabh-adra, Cauvery, Narmada, Ma-hanadi and other rivers withinter-state disputes in the co-untry are likely to be covered.

However, the modalities ofsuch arrangements are yet to bedisclosed. Further, the Uniongovernment is of the view thatthe ever-growing demand andsupply mismatch in the years tocome is likely to escalate waterdisputes among various statesacross the country.

If true, taking over themanagement of water sectorprojects without proper con-sultations and adequate prepa-

rations could become an ill-conceived move on severalcounts. First, water is a statesubject and existing provisionsrelating to only dispute reso-lution concerning inter-staterivers fall within the purviewof the Union government.

In this regard, the mecha-nism of Inter-State River W-ater Dispute Tribunals is sub-optimum. There are tribunalsadjudicating since 2004, oreven earlier, sharing of riverwater among riparian states.Such utter callous approach inmanaging precious waterresources is unforgivable.

Second, states are compe-tent to construct projects witha positive cost-benefit analy-sis within their territories onthe basis of dependable/sur-plus water. This is irrespectiveof the fact whether overallwater allocation has beenmade or yet to be made to

them by a Tribunal. It is,therefore, incorrect to inter-pret any project as a disputedproject. If there is no financialassistance received from theUnion Government, Statescan suo motu take up watersector projects considered asdeemed fit. This provision issubject to a caveat that thestate should have a full-f ledged Central DesignOrganisation of its own. Ofcourse, securing mandatoryenvironmental and forests

clearances; and hydrologicalclearance are some otherrequirements before takingup projects by the states. Theinvestment clearance is a mustfor the projects receiving cen-tral assistance.

Third, the Union govern-ment will find it difficult toadjudicate on satisfying thecompeting water demands ofrival states in terms of provid-ing overall quantity, timingsand place of their choice andthe rate of release. Keeping

such eventualities in view, thesubsidiarity principle cautionsagainst such misadventures.Any operation and manage-ment of inter-state projects bya third party can also bringcharges of favouritism anddiscrimination that have

direct bearing on the federalfabric.

Fourth, if on completion aproject will be taken over bythe Union government foroperation and maintenance,who will bear the expenses forcompleting such ongoing irri-gation projects with inter-state ramifications? Fifth andthe most important issue willbe determination of the futurecourse of action to be taken bythe project regulator in theaftermath of legal interven-tions made by the dissatisfiedstate parties. Thus, takingover operation and manage-ment of inter-state projects bythe Union government with-out doing the ground workcan be compared to a doctorprescribing the treatmentwithout a proper diagnosis.

What will be the correctcourse of action under suchcircumstances? The first and

foremost action is to discussthe broad contours of theproposal with the states and ifpossible, to build a consensus.

At the same time, the allo-cation of water to variousstates in inter-state rivers is aprerequisite to find amicablesolutions to managing variousprojects. Equally important isclearing the decks for settingup a single permanent waterdispute tribunal to pass allpending awards (in a formu-la form) in a time-boundmanner. The next importantissue in line is creation ofinter-state river boards involv-ing all the riparian states.

Before setting up any riverbasin management system, alot of preparatory work needsto be done as each river isunique and water sharingarrangements have to meetdifferent characteristics.

Towards this end, the expe-

rience gained of working oftwo river management boardsnamely, Krishna and Godavariset up under the AP StateReorganisation Act, 2014 willbe of immense help.

The Union Government,instead of taking over directcontrol of such inter-stateprojects, should create anappropriate inter-state mech-anism chalking out StandardOperating Procedures formanaging the entre riverbasin. Such River Basin Aut-horities are expected to haveall the concerned states onboard, and are expected tolook after various manage-ment aspects including releaseof water from various projectsas per the requirements ofindividual states.

To conclude, it is suggestedthat the doctor should startthe treatment only afterdetailed diagnosis.

DR SHAILENDRA JOSHI, Advisor of Telangana govt and former

chief secretary of Telangana

Allocation of water to various states ininter-state rivers is a prerequisite to findamicable solutions to managing variousprojects. Equally important is clearingthe decks for setting up a single perma-nent water dispute tribunal to pass allpending awards in a time-bound manner.

Inter-state river waters: Prescribing treatment without proper diagnosis

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh reported itslowest Covid-19 toll in morethan three months onWednesday, with 15 deaths,logged 2,591 fresh cases and3,329 recoveries.

The state’s Covid-19 chartnow showed 19,29,579 totalpositives, 18,90,565 recover-ies and 13,057 deaths so far.

A health department bul-letin said the toll was the low-est in more than threemonths. It said the number ofactive cases has dropped to25,957.

East Godavari reported 511fresh cases, Chittoor 349,West Godavari 266, Prakasam251, Visakhapatnam 220,Guntur 219, Kadapa 217,Krishna 190 and SPS Nellore162 in 24 hours. The remain-ing four districts registeredless than 70 new cases each,with the lowest 29 comingfrom Kurnool.

Chittoor reported fourfresh fatalities, Prakasamthree, East Godavari andSrikakulam two each andAnantapur, Kurnool,Vizianagaram and WestGodavari one each.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Telugu Akademi chairpersonNandamuri Lakshmi Parvathion Wednesday asked theOpposition not to criticisethe decision to change thename of the institution to the“Andhra Pradesh Telugu,Sanskrit Akademi”.

Speaking to the media alongwith State Education MinisterAdimulapu Suresh here, shesaid that the name change has

raked up considerable politi-cal heat in the state. The TDP,which is opposing the YSJaganmohan Reddy govern-ment’s decision to change thename of the Akademi, hastermed the decision “detri-mental to the very survival ofthe Telugu language”.

Lakshmi Parvathi clarifiedthat the people of the Statespeak Telugu laced withSanskrit and the two languagescannot be separated as such.

Referring to letters floodingher office on the name changeissue, she appealed to politicalleaders not to politicise theissue. However, LakshmiParvathi asked them to airtheir doubts, if any, on thename change.

She questioned whetherTDP supremo N ChandrababuNaidu and Lokesh have anyunderstanding about Telugu.She emphasised that theTelugu Akademi was the result

of several struggles. “If anyone has any doubts

on the formation of TeluguAkademi and other policyguidelines, they are free tostudy the by-laws, framed bythe Akademi founder and for-mer prime minister PVNarasimha Rao,” LakshmiParvathi said.

She said that she had takenthe decision only in accor-dance with the by-laws of theAkademi.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Russia-made Covid-19vaccine – Sputnik V – is nowavailable in Vijayawada.

This will be the third optionfor residents of Vijayawada,along with Covaxin andCovishield.

The vaccine was beingadministered to people at theAmerican Oncology Institutein Kanuru from Wednesdayitself.

PVR Kiran, facility director

said that on the first day,about 80 people got them-selves vaccinated with SputnikV. People who took the firstdose can take the second doseafter three weeks, he said.

Kiran said that the efficacyof Sputnik V was more than90 percent against Covid. Thevaccine has been approved by67 countries, including Brazil,Hungary, India and thePhilippines.

He said that people can reg-ister themselves through the

CoWin app or just walk in andget vaccinated. All above 18years of age can walk in andget vaccinated, Kiran said,adding that a single dose waspriced at Rs 1,250.

Meanwhile, health officialssaid that till date, the Stategovernment has administered1,78,36,272 doses of the vac-cines available, of which1,40,63,743 people wereadministered with the firstdose while 37,72,529 wereadministered both doses.

Sputnik V vaccinationstarts in Vijayawada

Row over Akademi name change

AP reports lowesttoll in 3 months

Continued from Page 1

The AP State government hadalready sought Centre’s inter-vention into the ongoing watersharing dispute between thetwo Telugu States.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy has writ-ten twice to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Union JalShakti Minister GajendraSingh Shekhawat in the spaceof one week seeking theirintervention to resolve thedispute between both thestates and also to rein inTelangana, accusing it of act-ing against the interests offarmers in Andhra Pradeshagainst the provisions of APReorganisation Act.

With no progress on the let-ters written by Jagan, the stategovernment approached theSupreme Court.


Each of these 80 corporationswill have at least 12 directorsand over 800 party loyalists areexpected to get these posts.

YSRCP sources said thatfirst preference will be given tothose party candidates wholost to TDP in the 2019 pollsand next to those who weredenied either party ticket in

the last Assembly polls ornomination to the LegislativeCouncil.

“The list is almost finalised.It has been prepared as per theparty’s principle of social jus-tice. A majority of these nom-inated posts will go to BCs,SCs and STs and among themalso half of the posts will go towomen,” said a YSRCP seniorleader.


The move, Thakur said,will benefit about 48.34lakh Central governmentemployees and 65.26 pen-sioners.

"The government hasdecided to increase DA tocentral government employ-ees and DR to pensionerswith effect from July 1,2021 representing anincrease of 11 per cent overthe existing rate of 17 percent of the basic pay/pen-sion," said a release.

"#Cabinet approvesrestoring of three instal-ments of DearnessAllowance and DearnessRelief with effect from01.07.2021 representing anincrease of 11% over theexisting rate of 17% of theBasic Pay/Pension. Noarrears for the period from01.01.2020 till 30.06.2021shall be paid," the officialhandle of PIB tweeted.


Vikrant Patil (2012), AjithaVejendla (2015) and GarudSumit Sunil (2015) have beenposted as Commandants ofAP Special Battalions 5, 6 and3 respectively. Gowthami Sali(2015) will be the new DeputyCommissioner of Police-I inVisakhapatnam city.

RN Ammi Reddy (2009),who was on wait, got posted asAssistant Inspector General ofPolice (Law and Order) in thestate police headquarters.

K Narayan Naik (2009) hasbeen directed to report to thestate police headquarters as hewas shunted out as SP, WestGodavari.

AP moves SC to stop TS fromgenerating power ‘illegally’..


The life insurance enrol-ment for party memberswould also be completed byJuly end, he said.

The construction of partyoffices had been taken up in31 districts. The work hadbeen completed in 24 dis-tricts.

In the remaining sevendistricts, 95 per cent of thework had been completed.Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao himselfwould inaugurate every dis-trict party office, he said.

The meeting also decidedto constitute party commit-tees, from village level toState level, over the next twomonths as part of steps to

strengthen the organiza-tional structure. The partywill be accessible to everyworker. The TRS partywould step up its presenceand become more active onsocial media platforms, hesaid.

The meeting placed onrecord that the ChiefMinister’s DalitEmpowerment Scheme hadbeen received well by Dalits.It appreciated the ChiefMinister for taking mea-sures to fill 50,000 posts.

The government hadalready filled 1.3 lakh postsso far. With the efforts beingmade by the State govern-ment, the problems ofunemployed youth wouldalso be resolved, he said.

Can’t be mute spectators...

Centre restores DAfor employees;raises it 28 pc


It may be recalled that the ACBofficials had on April 23 arrest-ed Narendra Kumar and twoothers – P Gopala Krishnan,MD of Sangam Dairy and MGurunadham, District Cooperative Officer of Ongole – inconnection with a case filedagainst them for allegedlyindulging in corruption in Sangam Dairy, by diverting fundsand properties of the cooper-ative dairy for personal use.

HC refuses to...

Govt reshuffles 12more IPS officers

Jagan readies...


Andhra Pradesh will alsobe the first State in thecountry to take up such agrandiose comprehensiveexercise using hybrid tech-nology including drones,rovers, ContinuousOperating Reference

Stations (CORS) Networkin one go. The survey willnot only be done for agri-culture fields but villagehabitation sites in munici-pal areas as well.

A pilot survey project isbeing conducted atTakkellapadu inJaggayyapeta mandal of

Krishna district, with thelatest technology. The pilotsurvey project revealed thatthe count of survey num-bers was more than thelandholdings. The num-ber of landholdings hasgone up from 182 to 631while the count of surveynumbers went up to 829.

GoM to monitor landresurvey project

PNS n NEW DELHI

The wholesale price-basedinflation eased marginally to12.07 per cent in June ascrude oil and food itemswitnessed some softening inprices.

However, WPI inflationremained in double-digit forthe third consecutive monthin June, mainly due to a lowbase of last year. WPI infla-tion was at (-) 1.81 per cent,in June 2020. In May 2021,the inflation was at a recordhigh of 12.94 per cent.

Experts said the continu-ing double-digit WPI infla-tion and its potential futurespillovers into the retail infla-tion could inject uneasinessinto the tone of monetarypolicy and noted that WPI isexpected to remain at anelevated level till October2021.

Snapping the five straightmonths of uptick, wholesaleprice index (WPI)-basedinflation in June softened asprices of food articles andcrude oil eased, even thoughmanufactured products hard-ened.

"The annual rate of infla-tion is 12.07 per cent for themonth of June, 2021 (overJune, 2020) as compared to(–) 1.81 per cent in June2020.

"The high rate of inflationin June 2021, is primarily due

to low base effect and rise inprices of mineral oils vizpetrol, diesel (HSD), naphtha,ATF, furnace oil etc, andmanufactured products likebasic metal, food products,chemical products etc, ascompared the correspondingmonth of the previous year,"the Commerce and IndustryMinistry said.

Inflation in fuel and powerbasket eased to 32.83 per centduring June, against 37.61 percent in May. Inflation in foodarticles too eased to 3.09 percent in June, from 4.31 percent May, even as onionprices spiked.

In manufactured products,inflation stood at 10.88 percent in June, as against 10.83per cent in the previousmonth.

The Reserve Bank of Indiain its monetary policy lastmonth kept interest ratesunchanged at record lowsand committed to maintainan accommodative policystance to support growth.

Retail inflation remainedabove the RBI's comfort levelof 6 per cent for two straightmonths at 6.26 per cent inJune, data released earlierthis week showed.

ICRA Chief EconomistAditi Nayar said the headlineWPI inflation is expected tocontinue to soften, whileremaining in double-digits inthe September quarter.

"With the CPI inflationlikely to have peaked, weexpect policy normalisationto commence in Q4 FY2022,after the growth revival solid-ifies," Nayar said.

Industry chamber PHDC-CI President Sanjay Aggarwalsaid significantly high fueland power inflation is esca-lating the input costs of theindustry and its competi-tiveness in the domestic andinternational markets.

"At this juncture, we urgethe government to considerpetroleum products in theambit of GST to rationalizethe prices and to contain therising inflation," Aggarwaladded.

India Ratings and ResearchPrincipal Economist SunilKumar Sinha said firming ofinflation despite weakdemand conditions needssome elaboration.

"It appears that a largepart of the rise in inflationcould be attributed toimported inflation. As glob-al commodity prices are apass through in the Indianeconomy, price increases inmineral oils, crude petrole-um, minerals and basic met-als are finding a reflection inthe wholesale inflation," hesaid.

India Ratings andResearch believes that whole-sale inflation will remain ele-vated till October 2021.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has con-vened an all-party meetingon Sunday ahead of theMonsoon session ofParliament, sources said.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Pralhad Joshi hasinvited leaders of politicalparties for the meet in whichPrime Minister NarendraModi is likely to be present.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onWednesday took suo motucognisance of a disturbingnews on Uttar Pradesh govern-ment's decision to allow'Kanwar Yatra' amidst theCOVID-19 pandemic andsought responses from thestate as well as the Centre"given the disparate politicalvoices" on the matter.

A bench headed by Justice RF Nariman referred to the

statement of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi that not evena bit of compromise can bemade on COVID-19 contain-ment and said the citizenswere perplexed about the hap-penings in view of the fact thatas the UP government hasallowed the religious 'yatra'commencing from July 25.

It issued notices to theCentre and the state govern-ments of Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand while posting thematter for hearing on Friday.

The bench, also comprisingJustice B R Gavai, said that itwas “little disturbed” to readthat UP has chosen to contin-ue with the Kanwar yatra,while Uttarakhand with itshindsight of experience, hasdecided against it.

The apex court took suomotu of a news paper reportand issued notice to the Unionof India and the States ofUttar Pradesh andUttarakhand to file their earlyresponse.

“The headline (in newspa-per) just above this headlinespeaks about the PrimeMinister's statement when hemet the North-Eastern ChiefMinisters that when peopleask about the third wave of theCOVID-19 virus striking thecitizenry of India, it's up to usto stop it and we cannot com-promise “even a bit”.

“Given the disparate polit-ical voices, all speaking at thesame time, it is importantthat the relevant Secretary,

Union of India, respond to thisnews report. Given the factthat this Yatra is to take offfrom July 25, 2021, it is neces-sary to fix a short time periodfor this case,” the bench said.

The top court said that affi-davits be filed by Friday morn-ing, July 16, 2021, respondingto the aforesaid news article bythe relevant Secretary, Unionof India; Principal Secretary tothe State of Uttarakhand; andPrincipal Secretary to the Stateof Uttar Pradesh.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader Rahul Ga-ndhi on Wednesday accusedthe government of weakeningthe country and said India hasnever been so vulnerable.

He cited a media reportthat claimed that the Chinesemilitary has again crossedthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh atseveral places and that therehas been at least clashbetween the two sides.

However, the Indian Armysaid on Wednesday that therehas been no attempt by theIndian or the Chinese side tooccupy the areas in easternLadakh from where they dis-engaged in February and bothsides are engaged in talks toresolve the remaining issuesin the region.

In a tweet, Gandhi said,"GOI's use of foreign anddefence policy as a domesticpolitical tool has weakenedour country".

WPI inflation eases to 12.07pc in June; food prices soften

SC notice to UP for allowing ‘Kanwar Yatra'

Govt convenesall-party meet

Govt weakening India: Rahul


TM Prasuna, president of the Indian Forest Service Officers' Wives Association-AP and wife of N Pradeep Kumar, ChiefConservator of Forests, AP, plants a sapling during ‘Panchavati’ an event to promote greenery, in the presence ofAssociation members, in Mangalagiri of Guntur district on Wednesday. Prasuna said that planting more trees is the onlyway forward for the survival of the human race. Association general secretary Neeru Khajuria, Sarika Gupta, Vinita Jha,Usha Singh, Kalpana Nayak, Shobha Chalapathi, Parveen and others participated.

GOING GREEN

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The first batch B Tech studentsof SRM AP University found-ed OurEye.ai, an automated,end-to-end video intelligencesolution for enterprises tomonitor surveillance camerarecordings, leveraging pre-existing CCTV-IP infrastruc-ture.

OurEye received USD35,000 from Sanjay Mehta led100X.VC, and currently com-prises 23-member teamincluding the three co-founders – Sourav Sanyal,Miran Junaidi and SaurabhGhanekar, all f inal yearComputer Science andEngineering students.

Being used by 11 companiesacross 17 outlets, the start-upgenerated over USD 120,000 tofuel their mission of bringingcameras to life, said theOurEye team.

OurEye.ai is about creatinga whole new world of remoteauditing and monitoring withpre-existing CCTV-IP infra-structure. It is a real-timevideo analytics platform thatenables enterprises to super-charge their business withvideo analytics.

This transforms and solvesnumerous operational prob-lems across a variety of sectorssuch as F&B, Hospitality,Workplace Safety, andManufacturing.

SRM President Dr PSathyanarayan said that theuniversity has “a clear charterto advance and promote entre-preneurial and start-up ecosys-tem and culture to transformthe state and the country”.

“It is gratifying to see that wewere the first in the country tostrike an alliance with UCBerkeley, SECT and Jacobs, forDesign, Innovation and

Entrepreneurship”, he said.“Our vision is that SRM AP

should become the pride ofAmaravati like what UCBerkeley and Stanford are forSilicon Valley. With immensepleasure, I recognise and awardSourav, Miran and Saurabh,the Co-Founders of OurEye.ai,the start-up an award of Rs 5lakhs”, he added.

“Miran, Saurabh and Sourav,students of the maiden batch ofSRM-AP, are not only setting anexample to fellow students butwill be quite involved with theUniversity in establishing andcreating an EntrepreneurialEcosystem. Such successes cer-tainly reaffirm our commitmentto entrepreneurship and theidea of promoting start-ups,which are so critical to define thecharacter and future of the uni-versity, region and the nation”expressed Prof VS Rao, Vice-Chancellor of the University.

C PRADEEP KUMAR

n VIJAYAWADA

Organic farming is yieldinggood results and authoritiesacross the State are encourag-ing farmers to switch to natur-al farming.

The farmers are getting goodreturns through organic farm-ing these days and a number offarmers are showing interest init as there is a good demand inthe market for organic prod-ucts.

Farmers should learn con-ventional ways of farming byavoiding pesticides and fertilis-

ers that are turning out to beharmful to people as in most ofthe cases, pesticide residues

create health issues.Awareness should be creat-

ed among the farmers to switch

to organic farming as there ishuge demand and the farmersget a good price for their pro-duce. On the other hand, theinput cost is also lower com-pared to the widely-used meth-ods using pesticides and fer-tilisers.

“With organic farming thefertility of the soil will alsoimprove and the quality of cropwill enhance. The governmentis also encouraging naturalfarming and sensitising thefarmers to switch,” said Krishnadistrict collector J Nivas onWednesday.

He said that the agriculture

department officials were pro-viding quality seeds to farmerson subsidy through RBKs, andthere was no good response.

He said that through APseeds BPT 5204, 1067, 1061 arebeing provided at subsidedprice and the farmers shouldmake use of this opportunity.

The Collector said that12,000 quintals of paddy seedswere provided to the farmersduring the previous year andthe current year 24,000 quin-tals of quality paddy seeds arebeing provided. The farmersshould come forward to adoptorganic farming, he said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for Information andPublic Relations PerniVenkataramaiah (Nani) onWednesday accused Leader ofthe Opposition NChandrababu Naidu of tryingto draw political mileage evenon a visit to console his partymembers.

“Naidu’s visit to his partymembers was more to settlepending bills rather thaninstilling confidence amongthem,” Perni Nani told themedia here.

He said that Naidu has beenan irresponsible Oppositionleader, visiting the State only tosling mud on the government.

“The State government effec-tively tackled both waves ofCovid-19 and stood second inthe country in controlling thepandemic, being a role modelfor other states. Although theUnion Government, Niti Aayogand WHO lauded the measurestaken by the State, Naidu andhis party members are unableto accept it,” the Minister said.

He added that right from

establishing testing labs toincreasing oxygen bed capaci-ty, Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy had put incontinuous efforts in fightingCovid.

Perni Nani said that Naiduhas been insulting the voters ofthe State for handing an igno-minious defeat to him. “Thepeople wouldn't have rejectedNaidu if he had kept his pollpromises,” he said.

Drawing comparison withthe previous government, theMinister said that Naidu hadgiven over 600 assurances tothe people during the 2014elections and hardly fulfilledany of them. “However, Chief

Minister YS JaganmohanReddy had completed over 97percent of the promises with-in 20 months of coming topower and there is no doubtthat the remaining three per-cent will also be fulfilled soon,”Perni Nani said.

He said that the ChiefMinister promised to provide2.65 lakh jobs for the unem-ployed and listed it in the man-ifesto. “As promised, in the firstyear itself 1.37 lakh jobs werecreated through village andward secretariats.

“We have also issued a jobcalendar,” he said, demandingto know how many jobs werefilled in the five year TDP rule.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu onWednesday accused theYSRCP Government ofdestroying the overall econo-my and financial situation ofAndhra Pradesh for the nar-row personal gains of the rul-ing party leaders.

Naidu said that in the pasttwo years, the personal fami-ly treasury of Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy hasbeen overflowing with ill-got-ten funds while the treasury ofthe State has emptied. “BharatiCements profits have soaredand touched the skies while thetiny income of the poorer sec-tions and middle classes gotwiped out. The ill-advisedpolicies of the present rulershave brought down the livingstandard of the people,” Naidusaid.

The TDP chief visitedMachilipatnam in the Krishnadistrict and called on the fam-ily members of formerMinister and party leaderKollu Ravindra. He paid richtributes to NadikuditiNarasimha Rao and recalledhis services to the TDP after

joining the party when NTRfounded it.

Naidu termed it as an hon-our that both Narasimha Raoand Kollu Ravindra hailingfrom the same family served inhis Cabinet.

He launched a scathingattack on the Chief Minister,saying that Jaganmohan Reddywas choosing to speak to soulsbut not to the general public.“The Chief Minister raised awhole lot of expectations withhis countless promises beforethe elections but now he wasleading the people to the cre-mation grounds only to talk tosouls. The people were reelingunder increased rates of sand,liquor, cement, etc.,” Naidustated.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP MLC P Ashok Babu onWednesday accused FinanceMinister BugganaRajendranath Reddyof narrating mean-ingless storiesinstead of giving astraightforwardexplanation as towhy the YSRCPG o v e r n m e n tbypassed the treasuryaccount in order to paywhopping Rs 41,000 crore ofpublic funds directly tounknown recipients.

Ashok Babu advised theFinance Minister to give rele-vant explanations to simplequestions asked by StateAssembly Public AccountsCommittee ChairmanPayyavula Keshav. “It was nowclear that the JaganmohanReddy government was not ina position to clarify on the let-ter written by the PrincipalAccountant General. Bugganashould give details as soughtby Keshav since the YSRCPgovernment would not be ableto escape CAG scrutiny,” hesaid.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, the TDP leadertermed it as shameless on the

part of the YSRCP regime tomake comparisons to theUnion government withregard to loans. “Buggana

should explain whyAP's performance

was very lowwhen comparedto the Centre inloans as a per-centage of GDP.

Why did APloans form over 24

percent of its GDP?The Jaganmohan Reddy

regime brought Rs 1.70 lakh-crore loans in two years butthere was zero developmentfor which the present rulersowe an explanation to thepublic,” he said.

Ashok Babu asserted that itwas a duty of the JaganmohanReddy regime to tell the peo-ple what it did with Rs 1.70lakh-crore loans taken in thepast two years. “Where did allthis money go when there wasno development of any sort?Not a single industry came toAndhra Pradesh and not a sin-gle project was taken up eversince the YSRCP came topower. Buggana should clari-fy to whom such massiveloans were distributed in vio-lation of the budgetary code,”he demanded.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP MLA KilariVenkata Rosaiahon Wednesdaylaunched a no-holds-barred attackon TDP supremo NChandrababu Naiduand other TDP leaders,accusing them of intention-ally misleading people andpoliticising the CAG clarifica-tion on Rs 41,000 crore.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Wednesday, theMLA said that State FinanceMinister BugganaRajendranath has alreadyissued clarification over theremarks made by PAC chair-man Payyavula Keshav, but theTDP leaders were still accus-ing the government only todefame the administration.He said that TDP leaders wereconspiring to mislead the peo-ple, “however people areindeed laughing at their cheappolitics”.

Rosaiah stated that no irreg-ularities have taken place withregard to Rs 41,000 crore andsaid that it was only due to theprogramming errors in the

CFMS. It was theprevious gov-ernment thatb r o u g h tCFMS at acost of Rs 300crore and

handed it overto a private

organisation.He stated that Naidu

had committed many irregu-larities in the name of suchtechnology, especially inFibrenet and skills develop-ment. “Revalidation has to bedone for transactions of Rs10,895 crore, Rs 8869 croretowards 1,001 bills, a pay-ment of Rs 2,728 crore relat-ed to e-kuber, and other pay-ments worth Rs 41,000 crorewhich were not captured inCFMS. Although it was clari-fied by the State government,opposition leaders are stilldragging the issue,” he said.

Reiterating that ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy is working for thedevelopment of all threeregions, Rosaiah said Naiduwas trying to create disputesamong the districts and neigh-bouring States.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The AP High Court on We-dnesday issued warrantsagainst former Krishna dis-trict Collector A MD Imtiazand DRDA project directorSrinivas on a plea allegingfailure to implement theJagananna Cheyutha scheme.

The High Court directedVijayawada police commis-sioner B Srinivasulu to exe-cute the warrant.

The court order camewhen it took up the petitionfor hearing on Wednesday.

Counsel appearing forPrabhakar, one of the peti-tioners, alleged that thescheme was not implement-ed in the district even after itwas approved in the GramSabha programme.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Principal Health Secretary AnilKumar Singhal on Wednesdayissued orders authorisingpolice personnel to impose afine of Rs 100 on any citizenfound to be not wearing a facemask in public places.

As per the order, all individ-uals in public places shouldmandatorily wear a face maskand non-compliance shallattract a penalty of Rs100.

As part of the Covid containmeasures the state govern-ment has issued instructionsfrom time to time to maintainphysical distancing betweenindividuals, wearing of masksand frequent sanitisation ofhands to prevent the spread ofinfection.

The orders said: “The Stategovernment, after carefulexamination of the matter,hereby delegate the powers ofhealth officers to impose apenalty of Rs100 and any otherpenalties ordered by the gov-ernment from time to time tothe police officers from therank of SI and above.”

The orders said that this wasbeing done to ensure propercompliance among the publicfor the purpose of enforcingCovid restrictions for a periodof 12 weeks.

“Wearing of masks by allindividuals in public places ismandatory and non-compli-

ance shall attract a penalty ofRs 100. Masks should cover thenose and mouth at all times.Establishments/firms/shopsetc., allowing any person with-out a mask into its premises,shall attract a penalty of Rs10,000 to Rs 25,000 dependingupon the gravity of theoffence,” the orders said.

If any gross violation occursin following the Covid proto-col in any market / commer-cial establishment, such mar-ket / establishment shall beclosed for 1 or 2 days depend-ing on the seriousness of theviolation in order to promotecompliance with the Covidappropriate behaviour. “TheMarket Associations shall beactivated to generate awarenesson Covid appropriate behav-iour in the market premisesand the penalties being

imposed for failure to do so.Cases of violation of Covidappropriate behaviour inpremises of shops etc., may bebrought to notice of theauthorities by means of pho-tographs to be posted on anumber to be notified by theCommissioner of Health andFamily Welfare. Appropriatemechanisms to take actionagainst such shops and estab-lishments shall be created bythe Commissioner of Health &Family Welfare within a peri-od of one week till July 21,” theorders said.

“Collectors and DistrictMagistrates, Commissionersof Police and Superintendentsof Police shall enforce theseorders in the State scrupulous-ly,” said Principal HealthSecretary AK Singhal in theorders.

Naidu only botheredabout image: Nani

Buggana cooking up storieson Rs 41,000 cr lapses: TDP

State Treasury empty, pocketsof YSRCP leaders full: Naidu

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP MLC Nara Lokesh onWednesday handed over Rs2 lakh as financial assistanceto the mother of NagendraPrasad, who committed sui-cide at Gopalanagaram inKurnool district recently.

It may be recalledNagendra ended his life at hisnative village after allegedlylosing hope on JaganmohanReddy's 'jobless calendar'.Nagendra's family membersnarrated to Lokesh how theunemployment problem hadclaimed his life.

Lokesh termed it as unfor-tunate that the AP youthwere not getting jobs both ingovernment and private sec-tors.

“Two years passed sinceJaganmohan Reddy becamethe Chief Minister but hispromise to fill the vacancieswas not fulfilled,” he said.

No jobs for youthin YSRCP rule,alleges Lokesh

Govt clamps down on the mask-less

Warrant againstKrishna formercollector Imtiaz

SRM-AP students createrecord with startup OurEye.ai

Adopt organic farming, Collector tells farmers

Kilari comes down onTDP like a tonne ofbricks over CFMS glitch

PNS n HYDERABAD

Disenchanted with the Maoistideology, an extremist whowas born to a top leader of thebanned outfit in Dandakaranyaforest, surrendered beforeTelangana police chief onWednesday.

Ravula Ranjith alias Srikanth,23, joined CPI battalion inNovember 2017 and is son of aMaoist couple, state DirectorGeneral of Police M MahendarReddy said. Ranjith participat-ed in four brutal attacks onsecurity forces and one ambushin addition to several other inci-dents, the DGP said.

Ranjith's father RavulaSrinivas was a central commit-tee member and secretary ofDandakaranya special zonalcommittee (DKSZC), while

his mother is a divisional com-mittee member (DVCM).

"He faced a lot of humilia-tion in the party after thedemise of his father," Reddysaid, adding the party refusedto give permission for his sur-render, though he hadinformed his mother of hissurrender.

According to police, Ranjith,after the death of his father,realised the futility of contin-uing in the outlawed Maoist

outfit. He was attracted by theprovisions of comprehensivesurrender and rehabilitationpolicies of Telangana govern-ment and decided to leave theparty to join the mainstreamand lead a better life, they said.

As per information given byRanjith, several Maoist partycadres were infected with coro-navirus, though he did notspecify how many had con-tracted the disease, police said.

In view of the pandemic, thetop cop further appealed to allMaoist party leaders and mem-bers to surrender and availmedical facilities and join themainstream and benefit fromthe rehabilitation programme.

Reddy said of the 25 centralcommittee members (CCM)--11 are from Telangana andthree from Andhra Pradesh.

‘Red child’ of Dandakaranyaforest shuns Maoist ideology

TS man drowns in United StatesPNS n HYDERABAD

A 31-year-old software engi-neer belonging to Adilabaddistrict accidentally drownedin a lake at Washington DC inthe United States of Americaon Sunday. The incident cameto light on Wednesday.

Sources said that thedeceased was Aleti NiharReddy, younger son of LaxmaReddy and Shobha Reddyand native of Bhorigaon vil-lage in Echoda mandal.

Nihar Reddy met with awatery grave when he alongwith his family members washolidaying at the waterfalls,Lake Sammamish, a populartourist spot of WashingtonDC. His parents could notrescue him. He slipped andfell into the lake, resulting inhis drowning.

Couple tries to sell kidneys, dupedPNS n HYDERABAD

A couple from Hyderabad,who had tried to sell their kid-neys to repay their loans, wasduped by the cyber fraudstersof Rs 40 lakh.

Venkatesh and Lavanya tookloans to the tune of Rs 1 croreto construct a new house in thecity around a year ago. At that

time, they were confident torepay the loan, as their busi-ness was on good lines.

However, due to lockdownthe business did not pick upand the couple suffered hugelosses.

As there was no income,they were unable to repay theloans. The couple thought sell-ing a kidney each was the only

solution to clear their debts. The couple who came across

advertisements about sellingkidneys in Google with contactnumbers contacted the cybercriminals, who have postedfake ads. The cyber criminalsin the guise of Hope KidneyCentre in Delhi, have offeredRs 5 crore on a deal to sell theirkidneys.


PNS n KAKINADA

Sticking to their guns, thefarmers of Ainapuram villagein Mummidivaram mandalhave made it clear that theywill go ahead with Kharif cropholiday unless irrigation canalsand drains are completelymodernised.

The village has farm lands of850 acres. A total number of1,500 farmers and tenant farm-ers are cultivating lands in thevillage. It has become commonfor the farmers to lose theircrops for the past few years dueto silt accumulation in irriga-tion canals and drains.

Meanwhile, AgricultureMinister Kurasala Kannababu,Social Welfare Minister PinipeViswarup and MLA PonnadaSatish have been trying toconvince the farmers for afew months now, but in vain.They promised to take uptemporary works with Rs 24

crore and also informed themthat Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy had promised tosanction Rs 300 crore for thepermanent project.

However, the farmers werenot convinced by the ministers’promise. Two farmers in thevillage, Suryanarayana andVenkataramana, who claimedthat they were losing cropsevery year and that they would

no longer believe in theseassurances as they were beingpushed into debts, said thatthey would not take up farm-ing this Kharif season.

With this, the ministers andMLAs decided to take the issueto the notice of the Chief Ministeronce again. So far, not a singlefarmer in Ainapuram has start-ed Kharif works. This has becomea challenge to the government.

Ainapuram farmers to goahead with crop holiday

PNS n KAKINADA

Animators working in the EastGodavari district Velugu pro-ject staged a demonstration infront of the Kakinada ZillaParishad office on Wednesdayopposing performance-basedsalaries.

The police foiled their tobarge into the Zilla Parishadoffice where MinistersDharmana Krishnadas,Cherukuri Ranganadha Raju,Chelluboyina Venu and PinipeViswarup were holding areview meeting on the housingscheme. A war of words ensuedbetween the protestors andthe police.

The ministers sent DRDAProject Director Y HariharaNath, to pacify the animatorsbut they continued their protestbraving heavy rain. The anima-tors refused to budge untilthey meet the ministers. Withthis, six of them were allowedto meet the ministers as per thePD’s instructions. The ministersassured them that they wouldtake the issue to the notice ofthe Chief Minister. AITUC

district president TatipakaMadhu, Animators’Association representativesBhavani, Sridevi, Gandi Mary,Sadhanala Padmavati andVijayalakshmi met the minis-ters.

A total of 1,800 animatorsare working under the Veluguproject across the district.However, they were not paidsalaries until 2019 and had tocontend with commissions

from DWCRA members.Chief Minister YS Jagan

Mohan Reddy had promised topay them a salary of Rs 10,000during his Padayatra. From2020, they were being paid asalary of Rs 8,000. However,the SERP, which oversees theVelugu project, said it wouldpay salaries based on theirperformance.

Currently, C and D gradeanimators are present in East

Godavari district. Area coordi-nators of Velugu and DRDAhave issued orders stating thattheir salaries will not be paidif they do not get A and Branks by September and thatthe animators would bechanged every three years.

Kakinada Rural AreaCoordinator Ashok Bharat hastaken a written consent fromanimators on the new condi-tions.

Police foil Velugu animators’attempt to barge into ZP office

PNS n ELURU

Eluru Range DIG KV MohanRao has said that the womenpolice should play an impor-tant role in providing safety towomen and girls in the villagesas well as urban areas.

Addressing the newly-appointed women police con-stables (village women protec-tion secretary) as the chiefguest of an an awareness pro-gramme on Disha app here onWednesday, the DIG said thatChief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy had initiatedsteps to promote all villagewomen protection secretariesas women policemen.

The DIG said that the policesystem is unique in serving thepeople directly and the womenPCs should help the women intheir areas at any time.

He also said that womenpolice should perform theirduty with commitment andshould be aware of the impor-tance of the Disha app as well.

On the occasion, the DIGasked them to provide widepublicity on Disha app. He alsoclarified the doubts raised bythe new PCs.

During the programme,West Godavari DistrictAdditional SP AV Subba Raju

said that if women downloadedthe Disha app, they could feelthat the police were with them.

The police should always bealert and provide assistance tovictims in emergencies afterreceiving information whenwomen and girls call Dial 100or 112.

Eluru DSP Dr Dilip Kiran,AR, DSP Krishnam Raju andDTC DSP K Prabhakara Raowere present.

DIG calls upon women cops tospread awareness on Disha app

PNS n ONGOLE/ELURU

Mallika Garg has beenappointed as the new SP ofPrakasam district. SiddarthaKaushal, who had earlierserved as SP of Prakasam dis-trict, has been posted as SP forKrishna district inMachilipatnam.

In his place, Prakasam dis-trict Additional SPChowdeswari continued asIn-charge SP. The governmentrecently appointed MallikaGarg, who has been current-ly serving as the KrishnaDistrict Admin ASP, as theDistrict SP. Mallika Garg, whois a 2015 batch IPS officerfrom West Bengal.

Meanwhile, Rahul DevSharma, an IPS officer of the2010 batch, was on Wednesdayappointed as the West Godavaridistrict SP. Prior to his presentappointment, he had been serv-ing as GreyhoundsCommander-in-Chief. Thegovernment has taken the deci-sion as part of the transfer ofseveral IPS officers across the

State. K Narayan Nayak, whohas been the District SP till now,has been directed to report tothe APDGP's office.

New SPs for Prakasam,West Godavari districts

PNS n GUNTUR

The Army Recruitment Rallywould start on Thursday atthe Brahmananda ReddyStadium in Guntur. Elaboratearrangements have beenmade for the Army selectionswhich would conclude onJuly 30.

District Collector VivekYadav, Joint Collector DineshKumar, Urban SP Arif Hafeezand Army officials are over-seeing the arrangements forthe Army Recruitment Rally.

The selections are for can-didates hailing from Guntur,Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor,Kadapa, Kurnool andAnantapur districts. About34,000 candidates from sevendistricts are expected toattend the recruitment rally,the SP said.

He said about 2,500 peoplecome for the selections everyday. Elaborate arrangementshave been made as a hugeresponse is expected from thecandidates to the ArmyRecruitment Rally. ArifHafeez clarified that theArmy selections would beconducted efficiently withoutany untoward incidents.Similarly, in view of the mon-soon season, there would beno inconvenience to the can-didates, he assured.

He said Traffic restrictionswere also imposed on StadiumRoad for the next 15 days andcalled upon the people of thecity to cooperate.

Recruitment rallyfor Army postsfrom today

PNS n ONGOLE

Close on the heels of thePrakasam police cracking arape-cum-murder of a minorgirl, yet another girl was kid-napped, raped and severelybeaten in the district. Theincident took place atAvulamanda village underKurichedu mandal of thedistrict.

According to Kurichedu SIPuli Sivanagaraju, a youngwoman from the village wentinto the open space around 5a.m in the village when shewas allegedly kidnapped bytwo persons Bejwada Vamsiand Palle Krishna. Later, shewas taken into the forest areanear Ramanjaneya Colonyon Kurichedu Road and beather severely. She was laterraped by Bejwada Vamsi andassisted by Palle Krishna.

The two accused fled whenthey observed a two-wheelerapproaching them. The peo-ple, who observed her, imme-diately handed her over to herparents in the village. A casewas registered after the victimlodged a police complaint.

A case was registered andinvestigation is on.

Girl kidnapped,raped, beatenup in Prakasam

PNS n KAKINADA

On account of the low pres-sure area formed in the Bay ofBengal, turbulence wasobserved in the sea off theUppada beach under UKothapalli mandal of EastGodavari district onWednesday.

The tidal waves rose 3 m to6 m above the normal heightof the waves. The sea was

rough with tidal waves fromSubbampeta to the suburb ofSpectrum Power generationLimited (SPGL) facility.

Huge tides were witnessedat the old and new bridges.The waves were seen hittingthe beach road, crossing theboulders placed to preventthe beach from erosion. Thishas been causing much incon-venience to motorists travel-ling on the beach road.

Huge tidal waves hitUppada beach road

PNS n RAJAHMUNDRY

Aishwarya Rastogi has beenappointed as theRajahmundry UrbanDistrict Superintendent ofPolice. Shimoshi Bajpayee,who has been working heretill now, has been transferredas Vigilance andEnforcement SP.

Aishwarya Rastogi is

R'mundry Urban SP

PNS n KAKINADA

Deputy Chief Minister andIncharge Minister of EastGodavari district, DharmanaKrishna Das, has said that aspart of the “Pedalandariki Illu'programme, it’s not just thecolonies that are being built butnew villages like never beforein the history of the State.

He participated in a reviewmeeting at the Zilla PrajaParishad Conference Hall hereon Wednesday, along withHousing Minister CherukuvadaSriranganatha Raju, SocialWelfare Minister PinipeVishwarup and BC WelfareMinister Chelluboina SrinivasaVenugopal Krishna.

Later, addressing the media,Krishna Das said the Housingdepartment had organised adistrict-level review meeting. Asthe Minister for Revenue, hesaid he was fortunate to have ashare in providing housing tomillions of poor people, he saidand observed that it was natur-al for minor issues to arise whensuch a huge programme was

being implemented and that themedia should also play a keyrole in making it successful.

He clarified that top priori-ty was being given to womenin education and medical sec-tors. The issuance of housingtitles and the sanctioning ofhouses was a continuousprocess and the titles would besanctioned within 90 days if theeligible persons apply for them.

Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy had allocated Rs1,000 crore for a comprehen-sive land survey in the State.The in-charge minister said itwas started as a pilot project in

Thakkellapadu in Krishna dis-trict. The statewide surveywould be completed by March,2022, he said and observed thatthe surveys were being con-ducted with the help of mod-ern drones and the supportprovided by the Survey ofIndia. The survey had alreadybeen completed in 51 villages.Gradually it would be complet-ed in division, mandal and vil-lage levels.

He said women should beindebted to the Chief Ministernot only for appointing awoman as Home Minister butalso for bringing in the Disha

Act for the safety of women.With the aim of realising the

dream of every poor person inthe State to own a house, theChief Minister had providednearly 31 lakh housing plotsacross the State under the'Navaratnalu -PedalandarikiIllu' scheme, the districtincharge minister said. It wasrevealed that the land wasacquired with Rs 12,000 crore,and Rs 17,000 crore was beingspent on building new villages.

He said that large-scaleinfrastructure was being devel-oped in the layouts. The ChiefMinister had launched the

scheme in East Godavari dis-trict, which has the highestpopulation in the State.

The Deputy CM said effortswere being made to expeditethe construction of land acqui-sitions, infrastructure in layoutsand constructions. Buildingmaterials like cement and steelwould be made available at dis-count in the layouts withoutany hindrance to the construc-tion of houses. It was revealedthat sand would be suppliedfree of cost.

He said that four lakh hous-es would be constructed inphases in the district in 90 days

with the help of the house titleprogramme and each benefi-ciary would get a property of Rs15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh once thehouse was completed. Oneofficer for every 20 houses aswell as a mandal officer foreach layout were appointed asnodal officers to help the ben-eficiaries.

Cherukuvada SriranganathaRaju said that he would visit theconstituencies in the districtonce again and work for the solu-tion of field level issues.

Kakinada MP Vanga Geetha,State Housing CorporationManaging Director Dr BharathGupta, Chief Engineer PSriramulu, Collector DMuralidhar Reddy, JointCollectors Dr G Lakshmisha, GRajkumari, A Bhargaviteja; MLCPandula Ravindrababu;Kakinada Urban, P Gannavaram,Jaggampeta, Prathipadu,Pithapuram MLAs DwarampudiChandrasekha Reddy, KondettiChittibabu, Jyotula Chantibabu,Parvata Poornachandra Prasad,Pendem Dorababu and othersparticipated.

Govt building new villages, not just colonies: Dy CM

Narasaraopet MP Lavu Srikrishnadevarayalu on Wednesday inaugurated the Oxygen Plant set up at SattenapalliGovernment Hospital, with the support of ITC Ltd., Agri Business Division. Sattenapalli MLA Ambati Rambabu, DistrictCollector Vivek Yadav and JC Dinesh Kumar are also seen.

LIFE-SAVING INITIATIVE

PNS n ONGOLE

Prakasam District CollectorPraveen Kumar on Wednesdaydirected the officials to takesteps to ensure that the 75thIndependence Day celebra-tions in the district would bea grand affair.

Addressing a review meetingwith district officials on thesteps to be taken to hold theIndependence Day celebrationson August 15 at the Collectors'Conference Hall in the

Prakasam Bhavan, he directedthe officials to organize cultur-al events with school students.The students should set up amedical camp at the parade

ground to avoid any inconve-nience. The meeting was attend-ed by Joint Collectors J Murali,Krishnaveni, Revenue OfficerTippee Nayak and district officials.

PNS n GUNTUR

City Mayor Siva NagaManohar Naidu hasdirected the author-ities to immedi-ately carry outpatch works onthe roads whichwere dug as partof the UnderGround Drainageworks.

On Wednesday, hevisited the NallaCheruvu area in Division 20of the city and explained to thepeople in detail about sanitationand drinking water supply andissued appropriate directions tothe authorities on the steps tobe taken. The Mayor enquiredabout the problems faced by thepeople in the area from Line 17to Line 24 in Nalla Cheruvuarea. On the occasion, theMayor said that culverts along

the roads were under repair anddirected the engineering officials

to prepare estimatesfor the construc-

tion of theculverts andcarry outp a t c hworks. Healso saidthat the

locals weredemanding

construction ofa retaining wall

for the mosque on Line24 and that they would talk tothe local MLA and Waqf Boardofficials to construct a retainingwall. DEE Venkata Ramana,TPOs Mallikharjuna Rao, YSRambabu, AE Sethu Babu,Sanitary Inspector Isaac, volun-teers, secretaries, local YCPleaders Shyam Shekhar, KhazaMohiddin and others participat-ed in the programme.

Mayor tells officials to carryout patch work on roads

PNS n BHIMAVARAM

Kotikalapudi Govinda Rao(Chinababu), president ofWest Godavari district unit ofthe Jana Sena Party and for-mer chairman of BhimavaramMunicipality, has said thatno matter how big the respon-sibilities of the party are, hewould act like an ordinaryactivist to strengthen theparty.

Speaking to the media hereon Wednesday, he said that hewould carry out the responsi-bilities given to him properly.“Every activist should workfor the development of theparty,” he said and criticisedthe State government for nottaking up any developmentprojects. “It’s all hype,hypocrisy and fraudulent

activities in the state,” he com-mented.

He alleged that the govern-ment was in a state of unre-sponsiveness with develop-ment nowhere to be seen onaccount of financial crisis.He said the injustice done bythe government would beplaced before the people.

He said it would be betterto have a Flyover in the bypassthan a flyover in the middle ofthe Bhimavaram in the nameof smart city.

The meeting was attendedby Janasena State CommitteeJoint Secretary, Matsyapuripresident Shanthi Kumari,Kanakaraju Suri, GundaRamakrishna, Bandi Ramesh,Vanapally Suryaprakash Rao,Magapu Prasad and others.

Govt unresponsive: Sena leader

Ensure I-Day fete is a grand affair: Praveen

nation 05VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 15, 2021

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid complains by somestates about shortage ofCOVID-19 vaccines, UnionHealth Minister MansukhMandaviya on Wednesdaysaid "useless"' statements arebeing made only to createpanic among the people, andasserted that states know verywell when and in what quan-tity they will get the doses. TheCentre has informed statesabout the allocation of dosesin advance, he said. In a seriesof tweets, Mandaviya said theavailability of vaccines can bebetter understood by an "actu-al analysis of the facts".

"Regarding the availabilityof the vaccine, I have come toknow from statements andletters of various state govern-ments and leaders. This situ-ation can be better understoodby an actual analysis of thefacts. Useless statements arebeing made only to createpanic among the people," hesaid in a tweet in Hindi.

To enable vaccinationthrough government and pri-vate hospitals, Mandaviya said,11.46 crore vaccine doses were

made available to the state gov-ernments and union territoriesin June and this availability hasbeen increased to 13.50 crorein July. The Centre hadinformed the states on June 19about how many doses of thevaccine would be made avail-able to them in July, he said.

On June 27 and July 13, thestates were informed about theavailability of vaccines everyday for the first and secondfortnight of July.

"... So the states know verywell when and in what quan-tity they will get the vaccinedoses. The central govern-ment has done this so that thestate governments can do thework of vaccination up to thedistrict level by planning prop-erly and people do not face anyproblem," he said,

"If the Centre is already giv-ing this information inadvance on its behalf and yetwe see mismanagement and

long queues of vaccine takers,then it is very clear what theproblem is and who is the rea-son for it," he said.

Hitting out at leaders whomake statements that createconfusion and concern in themedia, he said they need tointrospect whether they are sofar removed from the gover-nance process and relatedinformation that they are noteven aware of the informa-

tion already being given in thecontext of vaccine supply.

Some states like Rajasthan,West Bengal and

Maharashtra, which record-ed the highest number ofCOVID-19 cases onMonday, have raised the

need for more vaccine doses.Maharashtra Health MinisterRajesh Tope said the stateneeded a minimum of threecrore vaccine doses per monthto inoculate the entire eligiblepopulation against coronavirusat the earliest.

COVID-19 inoculation ses-sions were not conducted in atleast 25 of Rajasthan's 33 dis-tricts on Monday due to vac-cine shortage, a state officialsaid.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solihon Wednesday reviewed the progress of India-supported development projectsin the archipelagic nation and expressed satisfaction at the rapid pace of

implementation despite the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. Modi spoke over the phonewith Solih and assured him of India's commitment to supporting the

Maldives in the fight against the pandemic. On his part, PresidentSolih thanked Prime Minister Modi for India's cooperation and

support in the fight against the COVID-19, the Prime Minister'sOffice (PMO) said in a statement. Both leaders reviewed theprogress of the India-supported development projects in theMaldives and expressed satisfaction at the rapid pace ofimplementation despite the constraints of the pandemic, it said.Prime Minister Modi noted that Maldives is a central pillar inIndia's 'Neighbourhood First' policy and its maritime vision of

Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR), the statementsaid. "Spoke with President @ibusolih of Maldives. Assured him of

India's commitment to support Maldives in the fight against theCOVID-19 pandemic," Modi tweeted.

In a key verdict, the Supreme Court Wednesday held that the consent of majority unit-holders willbe required before closing debt schemes and markets regulator Sebi will have the power tointervene if the trustees violate the regulations. The apex court's judgement came on pleas,

including the appeal filed by Franklin Templeton, against the Karnataka High Court order restrainingthe company from winding up its six of mutual fund (MF) schemes without obtaining the consent

of its investors by a simple majority. A bench of justices S Abdul Nazeerand Sanjiv Khanna dealt with the interpretation of rules and

regulations on the issue, and not with the facts of the case relatedto the winding up of the six mutual fund schemes of FranklinTempleton. “We have interpreted the statutory provis ions. Wehave agreed with the views expressed by the High Court” onconsent of the majority of shareholders for shutting down thedebt schemes, the top court said, adding that “this requirementwill be post publication of notice”. pholding the validity of

regulations, Justice Khanna, pronouncing the judgement for thebench, said if trustees violate them, the Securities and Exchange

Board of India (Sebi) can look into the allegations.

Cracking the whip on latecomers, the Delhi government's WCD department has issued a show-cause notice to its 49 officials for coming to office late and asked them to submit their replieswithin three days. Accorrding to the Women and Child Development (WCD) department, if

these officials fail to reply to the notice, strict action will be taken against them. Those issued thenotice on July 13 include assistance directors, junior assistants, welfare officers, deputy directors,

consultant, supervisor and steno, among others. "It is beingcontinuously seen since the past few days that many of our

colleagues come very late than the scheduled office hours andleave before the end of office hours, this is affecting theefficiency of the department. Such carelessness and negligenceis not tolerable, this feeling should be within all of you thatyour duty is to be performed in a time-bound manner and withintegrity. But it doesn't seem to be happening," the notice,issued in Hindi, stated. While stating that the department has

been continuously working for the weaker sections of thesociety, it said that "their success story will remain incomplete if

you and we remain seriously away from our responsibilities".

INDIA

CORNER

‘Useless statements beingmade to create panic’ PNS n PANAJI

Aam Aadmi Party nationalconvener Arvind Kejriwal onWednesday said he felt"encouraged" as even opposi-tion leaders are talking abouthis party, a day after CongressMLA Navjot Singh Sidhutweeted that the AAP hasalways recognised his visionand work for Punjab.

“Navjot Singh Sidhu? He isin Punjab. I am happy thatAAP is doing such a good jobthat even opposition leadersare praising us. So, one feelsencouraged about it,” the DelhiChief Minister told reporterswhen asked about Sidhu'stweets. Kejriwal is on a two-dayvisit to Goa. "Our oppositionAAP has always recognised myvision & work for Punjab. Beit Before 2017- Beadbi, Drugs,Farmers Issues, Corruption &Power Crisis faced by People ofPunjab raised by me or todayas I present "Punjab Model" Itis clear they know - who is real-ly fighting for Punjab," Sidhusaid in a series of tweets.

Sidhu's tweets came amidattempts by the Congress highcommand to resolve infightingin the party's Punjab unit andspeculation that he may beappointed as the state unitpresident.

‘Feel encouragedas even oppnleaders arepraising AAP’

PNS n PANAJI

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Wednesday saideach family in Goa will get upto 300 units of electricity freeper month if his Aam AadmiParty (AAP) is voted to powerin the state Assembly elections,due in February next year.

Unveiling four "guarantees",the AAP national convenerpromised to waive all the oldelectricity bills if his partygets a chance to rule the coastalstate.

“Every family will get up to300 units of electricity free permonth. We will start on a cleanslate. Once the AAP govern-ment is formed in Goa, 87 percent of consumers will startgetting a zero electricity bill,”he told a press conference onthe last day of his two-day visitto Goa.

Kejriwal also promised freeelectricity to farmers in thestate. “If people in Delhi can

get free electricity, then whynot free power for people inGoa,” he said. Despite Goabeing a power-surplus state,there are frequent power-cutsin the coastal state, he added.

In 2017 Goa Assemblypolls, the AAP haddrawn a blank.

During histwo-day visit,Kejriwal metv a r i o u sstakeholdersand claimedthat theAAP wasgetting ag o o dresponse fromthe commonpeople "who arelooking for a clean pol-itics after a spate of defectionsin the state during the currenttenure".

Kejriwal slammed the MLAswho left Congress and otherparties to join the BJP after the

last Assembly elections in Goa.“The party (Congress)

which had won 17 seats is nowleft with only five MLAswhereas the party (BJP) whichhad won only 13 seats is cur-

rently having 28 MLAs,”Kejriwal said.

“These MLAswho switched

s i d e sc l a i m e dthat theywere join-ing theBJP to getp e ople ' sw o r k

done. Didthey do peo-

ple's work asthey claimed?

Now people are say-ing that they switched sides

for the lure of money. Peoplefeel betrayed,” he said.

The AAP leader said thepeople of Goa now wantchange.

Kejriwal promises freeelectricity for Goa voters

PNS n MUMBAI

Amid speculation over thelikely formation of a thirdfront, Shiv Sena MP SanjayRaut on Wednesday said bring-ing all the opposition partiestogether and forming a consen-sus on a face to take on the BJPin the 2024 general elections isa huge task given that everyregional party considers itselfa king and tries to "dictateterms".

When queried if that prob-able face would be SharadPawar, Raut said the NCP chiefis a senior national leader butat the same time, some peopleare thinking about West Bengalchief minister and TMC pres-ident Mamata Banerjee.

“It is a huge task to bring allthe Opposition parties togeth-er and form a consensus on aface to take on the BJP in the2024 general elections. Everyopposition party equates itself

with a king and tries to dictateterms," he told a regional news

channel in Delhi."We need a face to counter

the Union government likeJayprakash Narayan againstthen PM Indira Gandhi inpost-emergency polls, V PSingh against Rajiv Gandhi.Later, (then prime minister)Manmohan Singh and(Congress president) SoniaGandhi duo were challengedby Narendra Modi in the 2014general elections,” Raut said.

When asked who could

emerge as a probable face totake on the BJP, Raut said,“Sharad Pawar has been anational leader for a long time.Some people think of MamataBannerjee after her spectacu-lar performance in recent WestBengal polls. In such scenario,if (poll strategist) PrashantKishor can do some magic, Iwill be happy”.

Kishor had separately metBanerjee and Pawar in therecent past.

PNS n KOLKATA

In a rerun of the 2015Robinson Street skeletoncase in Kolkata, a womanand her daughter werefound living with thedecomposed corpse of her78-year-old husband in thenorthern part of the city,police said on Wednesday.

The incident came tolight after stench beganemanating from theirhouse in Bagbazar area.

After their neighboursalerted the police, the lawenforcers conducted acheck late on Tuesdaynight, only to find the twowomen living with thedecomposed corpse of 78-year-old Digvijay Ghosh,an officer of Shyampukurpolice station said.

"The man must havedied at least a month-and-half ago.

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Punjab CMAmarinder Singhattacked the Shiromani AkaliDal over the issue of farm lawsby posting a video of its lead-ers praising the bills, promptingSAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badalto take him on his pre-pollpromise of farm debt waiver.

Singh posted on Twitter avideo of Shiromani Akali Dalchief Sukhbir Badal, formerchief minister Parkash SinghBadal and former Union min-ister Harsimrat Kaur Badallauding the farm ordinanceswhich were later enacted intolaws, apparently seeking toembarrass them amid theongoing farmers' agitationagainst the Centre's agri laws.

In the old video, SukhbirBadal was seen saying that theFarmers' Produce, Trade andCommerce ordinance wouldfacilitate crop sale, and it did notaim to stop the purchase of cropat the minimum support price.

PNS n MUMBAI

The Mumbai police's Anti-Narcotic Cell (ANC) hasarrested two persons foralleged possession of Afghanicharas worth more than Rs 1crore in the western suburbof Andheri, an official said onWednesday.

Officials of the ANC'sBandra unit, who were onpatrolling duty, interceptedMohammed Jafar AbdulKalam Siddique (26) andSamir Shabbir Shaikh (25) atV P Road in Gaondevi Dongararea on Tuesday evening, theofficial said.

A total of 2.025 kg of cha-ras, valued at Rs 1.01 crore, wasfound on the accused, he said.Investigations have revealedthat Siddhiqui is a notoriousdrug peddler in the area andhad procured the narcoticsubstance from Kanpur inUttar Pradesh, he said.

PNS n

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Days after a series of dowrydeaths rocked Kerala and kickedup a heated debate on the men-ace,Governor Arif MohammedKhan on Wednesday observed afastto create social awarenessagainst the social evil andendatrocities against women.

It may be for the first time inthe history of the southern statethat any Governor was fastingfor such a social cause.

Scripting a new chapter, han-began the fast at Raj Bhavan, hisofficial residence here, by 8 am,urging people to say a big no tothe decades-old evil practice.

The Governor would contin-ue the fast till 6 pm and wouldalso take part in a prayer meet-ing to be organised at theGandhi Bhavan here later in theevening before ending the fast,Raj Bhavan sources said. He isobserving the fast in response to

a call by various Gandhianorganisations to spread aware-ness against the practice of giv-ing and taking dowry as part ofmarriages.

Last month,Khan had madean emotional appeal to womento say no to dowry when it wasdemanded during the time ofmarriages and expressed willing-ness to be part of any "organised"voluntary movement to createawareness against the menace.

He reacted after visiting thehouse of Vismaya, an Ayurvedamedical student, who wasrecently found dead in hus-band's house under mysteriouscircumstances after she hadcomplained of dowry harass-ment in Kollam district.

Terming dowry as an "evil",he had said social awarenessshould be created about itsunholy aspects and urged NGOsor volunteers, who selflesslywork for public causes, to starta special movement against it.

PNS n JAMMU

Border Security Force (BSF)personnel opened fire at a fly-ing object after they spottedit near the InternationalBorder (IB) in the Arnia sec-tor of Jammu and Kashmir, asenior official said onWednesday.

On the intervening nightof July 13 and 14, a blinkingred light was observed by thetroops in the Arnia sector ata height of 200 metres on itsown side, the official said ina statement.

"The troops fired fromtheir position towards the redblinking light due to which itreturned. The area is beingsearched. Nothing has beenfound so far,” he added.

PNS n BENGALURU

The Congress on Wednesdayaccused the Centre of pooreconomic management andfailing to contain price rise andsaid it has resulted in povertyincreasing in the country.

Demanding substantialreduction in fuel prices, reviewof import duties and rational-isation of GST, the party saidit would raise the issue of highinflation in Parliament.

Addressing a press confer-ence, Congress nationalspokesperson Supriya Shrinatealleged that the COVID-19pandemic and economic mis-management have renderedcrores of people jobless,reduced wages and left manyimpoverished.

"Instead of putting moneyin the hands of people, thisinsensitive government is forc-ing them to pay higher for

basic things," the Congressspokesperson said.

She claimed that 23 crorepeople have slipped below thepoverty line forcing Indians towithdraw almost Rs 1.25 lakhcrore out of their providentfunds.

Shrinate said not only pricesof petrol, diesel and LPG haverisen sharply, but also that ofbasic commodities like edibleoil, pulses, tea, coffee, sham-poo and soap.

PM Modi reviews developmental

projects with Maldivian Prez SC: Consent of majority of shareholders

needed for shutting down debt schemes

Delhi govt's WCD dept issues notice to 49

officials for coming to office late

Woman,daughterfound livingwith corpse

Ker Guv observesfast against dowry

Amarinder,Sukhbir Badal hitout at each otheron Twitter

Mumbai: ANCnabs two withcharas worthover Rs 1 crore

Cong flays Centrefor price rise

BSF personnelopen fire atflying objectspotted nearJammu border

CHARGES OVER VAX SHORTAGE

Consensus to take on BJP a big task: Raut

Centre asks states to facilitatepvt centres in getting Covid vax

SLOW VACCINATION PACE

PNS n NEW DELHI

The slow pace of procurementand administration of COVID-19 vaccine by private centres insome states is a cause of '"seri-ous worry", the Centre said onWednesday and advised statesand UTs to review the statusdaily and ensure indents fordoses are quickly placed withthe vaccine manufacturers.

Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level meeting with health sec-retaries and senior immunisa-tion officials of 15 states andUTs on Wednesday duringwhich the areas of concernwere highlighted, includingdelay in ordering and lifting ofdoses and payment.

The roles of the states andUTs for demand aggregationand roles of the vaccine manu-facturers in quick dispatch werefurther outlined in the meeting.

Bhushan said many privateCOVID vaccination centres(PCVCs) have not placed anyindent for the earmarked quan-tum of COVID-19 vaccines.

Many state governmentsneed to facilitate vaccine pro-curement by the PCVCs, ahealth ministry statement said.

"States were advised to reviewthe status on a daily basis and

ensure that indents for the ear-marked quantum are quicklyplaced with the private vaccinemanufacturers," it stated.

In many cases while theindent for the COVID-19 vac-cine has been placed with thestate government, payment hasnot been made for the entireamount of indented vac-cines, the statementsaid.

" In some cases,no payment hasbeen made forthe entirei n d e n t e dq u a n t i t y .State gov-

e r n m e n t sand the PCVCs

were advised toensure that the gap

between the indentedquantity and payment

towards their procurementreduced to zero," it said.

The states and UTs whichparticipated in the meetingwere Uttar Pradesh, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha,Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh,Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra, Gujarat, WestBengal, Delhi, Punjab andHaryana through video confer-ence.

Nodal representatives from

the two COVID vaccine man-ufacturers, Ms/ Bharat Biotechand M/s Serum Institute ofIndia (SII), were also present.

In light of the revised guide-lines for universalisation of thecountrywide COVIDVaccination Program andrecent advisories, the progressof vaccine procurement andadministration by PCVCs inthese states and UT wasreviewed.

PNS n KOLKATA

The three neo-Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB) terrorists, arrested inKolkata, were setting up ter-ror modules in West Bengaland may have links with Al-Qaeda and Harkat-ul-Jihad

al-Islami (HuJI), police said.It is suspected that they

have associates in some dis-tricts of the state, a seniorofficer of the Special TaskForce (STF) of the KolkataPolice said on Tuesday.

"Init ia l interrogat ionrevealed that the JMB oper-

atives were trying to buildmodules in West Bengal.These terrorists may havelinks with terror groups Al-Qaeda and Harkat-ul-Jihadal-Islami (HuJI). The docu-ments seized from themindicate this," the officersaid.

Terrorists arrested in Kolkatamay have Al-Qaeda links: Police

PNS n NEWDELHIUnion minister Piyush Goyal has beenappointed as the leader ofhouse in Rajya Sabha, sourcessaid on Wednesday.

He will succeed ThawarChand Gahlot who has beenappointed the governor ofKarnataka.

The Parliamentary AffairsMinistry has intimated theRajya Sabha Secretariat thatGoyal will be the Leader ofHouse, the sources said.

Goyal, a two-time RajyaSabha MP, is currently thedeputy leader of the NDA andis also Union Minister in theCabinet.

Union minister Piyush Goyal to beLeader of House in Rajya Sabha

environmental clearancesfrom the Government in 2017.The landowners were neverpaid what was due to them.The project had enormousenvironmental costs as well.For clearing forests, gramsabha’s consent was neversought.

Father Stan was askinguncomfortable questions,making the powers-that-benervous. He filed a PIL in 2017against the detention of 72prisoners in Jharkhand’s WestSinghbhum district. Adivasiand Dalit youths were jailedunder the Unlawful ActivitiesPrevention Act (UAPA). Theironly crime was that they hadprotested the illegal acquisitionof their land and forests. Theystood against the corpora-tions that had the State’s back-ing. Three years later, he wasalso booked under the UAPAin far-off Maharashtra.

The message was loud andclear: You do not mess with thesystem. If you do, the systemwill fix you, slowly but surely.He was one of the 16 accusedin what is now known as theBhima Koregaon case for incit-ing caste violence and plottingto assassinate the Prime

Minister. He was arrested fromhis ashram in Ranchi andlocked up in Taloja jail inOctober 2020. It is interestingto note how the system works.The 40-odd policemen arrest-ed him within hours after theorders. Nevertheless, the trialfor such a sensitive case is yetto start. Our system doeswork, though selectively!

A liberal by intellect and aGod-fearing Christian byheart, the two opposites met inhim and synthesised. Thanksto NIA, he holds the rare dis-tinction of being the oldestperson to be charged for ter-ror activities. He was treated asa petty criminal without anyentitlements and privilegesthat should have come with hisage, if nothing else. He sufferedfrom Parkinson’s and couldnot even sign or hold a cup todrink water. He fell down sev-eral times. It took just eightmonths to kill him.

The Bhima Koregaon casewould take years to decide.The NIA and public prosecu-tors would indeed have evi-dence to prove he wasinvolved. The judge would lis-ten to the plea of both sidesand decide. Of course, he

would not consider reportsthat the laptop was hacked andinjected with malware to plantevidence against Stan; more soif the newspaper happens tobe Washington Post.

The judges are not sup-posed to work under mediapressure or the Government,no matter how high-profilethe case may be. Bail is not anundertrial’s right but a judge’sdiscretion, his call based onfacts presented before him.That Father Stan could wagea war against the State from ahospital bed or destroy evi-dence with his tremblinghands or could have jumpedbail though he could not walk,these facts must have crossedthe judge’s mind while declin-ing his bail petition. He died46 days later. In the film JollyLLB, the judge quips: “Kanoonandha hota hai judge nahin,usey sab dikhta hai” (Law isblind, not the judge; he seeseverything)”. Wish the judgehad seen the truth through.He could have bailed out thejudiciary!

(The writer is a columnistand documentary filmmaker.The views expressed are personal.)

THE SCARCITY OF COVID-19 VACCINESSir — Whether the Centre admits it or not,the reality is that the pace of vaccination hasslackened due to vaccine shortage. The factthat all those standing in long queues forlong hours do not succeed in getting vac-cinated means that the demand is farexceeding the supply. Now that people haveovercome vaccine hesitancy, it falls on theGovernment to meet the demand. TheUnion Government’s claim that there areenough vaccines appears to be untrue. Ifthat were the case, vaccination centres inseveral States would not have shut down.

Union Health Minister MansukhMandaviya must become aware of what ishappening on the ground. Now is the timefor the Centre to supply more vaccines toquicken the pace of vaccination to avert athird wave. Replenishing the stocks whenthey deplete is its responsibility. The rise in‘R’ factor or reproduction rate while thecountry is in the ‘unlocking mode’ adds anew urgency to the vaccination pro-gramme. The importance of vaccinating asmany people as possible and as quickly aspossible to achieve herd immunity cannotbe overemphasised.

The Union Government must showcommitment and will to make the life-sav-ing vaccines available to States in sufficientquantities and accelerate the vaccinationdrive on war footing. This is said not toblame the Government, but to galvanise itinto more vigorous action.

G David Milton | Kanyakumari

KEJRIWAL EYES POWER IN MORE STATESSir — After kicking off the election cam-paign in Punjab and Uttarakhand, AamAadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal hasannounced four pre-poll guarantees forGoa, together with 300 units of free elec-tricity to people in the coastal State. TheAAP chief said that Goa has seen soiled pol-itics through the years. The Congress andthe BJP have for long cheated the peopleof Goa, he claimed, adding that his partywas getting immense support as the localsfavoured clean and new politics.

In his four guarantees, Kejriwal vowedthat each household will get 300 units of

free electricity, pending energy paymentswill be waived off, there won’t be any ener-gy cuts and the farmers with get free powerfor farming. Kejriwal has been powering hiscampaign in the poll-bound States withsimilar promises. In Punjab, where ener-gy disruption is a major poll plank, theDelhi Chief Minister again gave the sameset of guarantees. The party is trying tobroaden its base in six main States goingto polls. Elections in Punjab, Goa,Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, HimachalPradesh and Gujarat would be held in 2022and the AAP has been planning to contestthe polls in all these States.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

TRUE BOND BETWEEN MESSI, NEYMARSir — Lionel Messi finally got his hands onan international trophy, with the Albicelestewinning their first piece of silverware since1993 by beating archrivals Brazil in the

Copa America finals. Naturally, the win isthe biggest moment for Messi, whose tro-phy jinx with the blue-and-white jerseyfinally ended even as his teammates tossedhim into the air as the chorus of cheers fromArgentina’s fans cascaded down the standsof Brazil’s Maracana stadium.

But it wasn’t just Messi’s comrades whocongratulated him. His Barcelona teammateNeymar sought out his old pal and the pairshared a long embrace, which must havewarmed the cockles of everyone’s heart.(Editorial, ‘True friends’, July 14). It reallywas a touching moment, considering thatNeymar just went through heartbreak andmelancholy, and is yet to win a trophy forhis country. If anything, the Copa Americafinal appears to have further strengthenedthe bond between Messi and Neymar.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 15, 2021

06

Send yyour ffeedback tto:[email protected]

The activist-priest faced charges in the Bhima Koregaon case for inciting

caste violence. But something doesn’t quite add up

HE WAS TREATEDAS A PETTY

CRIMINALWITHOUT ANY

ENTITLEMENTSAND PRIVILEGES

THAT SHOULDHAVE COME WITH

HIS AGE. HESUFFERED FROM

PARKINSON’S ANDCOULD NOT EVEN

SIGN OR HOLD A CUP TO

DRINK WATER

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

GYANESHWAR DAYAL

This is the irony of our country that, on theone hand, the general public is heavily bur-dened due to the rising inflation and, on the

other, the Dearness Allowance (DA) is being hiked.Recently, the Government has increased the DAfrom 17 per cent to 28 per cent. Coronavirus firstsnatched the jobs, then ruined the household bud-get and now the inflation is making us cry. Whilewe talk about social harmony, there is discrimi-nation among the Government and private jobsand self-employed people.

Have you ever heard that the Governmentis going to give DA to private and unorganisedsectors as well? It basically means that theGovernment babu should have bread and but-

ter every day and the general public should justbe embroiled in livelihood jugaad due to infla-tion. While the Government’s decision wouldsurely provide relief from inflation to lakhs ofemployees, it would have been better if the gen-eral public also got the same relief. TheGovernment’s decision will put an estimated bur-den of `34,400 crore on the exchequer.

While the Centre recently told the SupremeCourt that it does not have funds to compensatethe COVID-19 victims, it has gone ahead with theDA announcement. After this decision, now theStates facing elections will also try to take sucha step, irrespective of their economic condition.The Government data shows that wholesale infla-tion was 12.07 per cent in June, which was at arecord 12.94 per cent level in May, when the coun-try faced exorbitant petrol, diesel and cooking gasprices. Taking home food items, especially edi-ble oil, has become very expensive at a time whenthe whole country is suffering from rising infla-tion and expecting relief. From this viewpoint, thetiming of the Union Government’s decision doesnot seem right.

Devanand Ray | New Delhi

Rising inflation and the DA

An august requiem forFather Stan Swamy

The hottest places in hellare reserved for thosewho, in times of greatmoral crisis, maintain

neutrality,” said medieval thinkerDante Alighieri. He could wellhave been speaking about thepresent times where conscienceis flaming out. As we all go aboutworrying about our own lives inthe Corona era, a lot more is hap-pening during the lockdown —detentions, lockups, undertrialssuccumbing to inordinate delaysand common people’s eternalwait for justice.

This is as much about FatherStan Swamy as it is about us.Sometimes the breath and con-science are all there is betweenthe living and dead. If it does notsimmer, a person may be livingyet dead. Sometimes an individ-ual’s death allows us to ponderover how alive we are — social-ly, politically and morally.

Father StanislausLourduswamy died on a hospi-tal bed in Mumbai under incar-ceration, waiting for an interimbail that never came. He wasadmitted to a private hospital andput on ventilator after contract-ing COVID in the crampedTaloja jail. Finally, on July 6, post-COVID aftereffects, Parkinson’sand the system’s apathy got thebetter of him. An ailing octoge-narian who had no criminalrecord or history of violence wasdenied bail despite severalappeals. His death left the systemon a metaphorical ventilator;gasping for air, clamouring for abailout.

Father Stan was born inTamil Nadu and had imbibed hisliberal ideas in the Philippines.He chose to work for the welfareof tribals in Jharkhand. He wasalso a Jesuit priest, a Christianmissionary working in tribalareas. These two descriptions areenough to make his credentialssuspect. A “liberal activist” con-veniently translates as “Maoist”.Christian missionary swaps wellfor a conversion enthusiast. Onecould wonder why it took him solong to earn the system’s ire. Wasit his credentials or his work intribal areas that did him in? Itwasn’t. It was when he threw thespanner in the works by ques-tioning Adani’s political jugger-naut. He objected to the forcefulacquisition of land for the Adanipower plant in Godda at a throw-away price. The project got hasty

SOUNDBITEThe MLAs are sofrightened by theMarch 23 incidentthat they are afraidto come to theAssembly. Leaders of allOpposition parties have askedme for guaranteed securityfrom the Speaker.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader— Tejashwi Yadav

The war inAfghanistanwaged by theUnited States has lasted for 20years, but peace

has not arrived yet.

Chinese Foreign Minister— Wang Yi

I usually tend tomiss out on signif-icant dates andanniversaries, andrealise only whensomeone remindsme.

Television actor— Shaheer Sheikh

Congratulations toPiyush Goyal ji onbeing appointedthe leader ofHouse in the RajyaSabha. Wishinghim continued vigour...

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs— Pralhad Joshi

I am very confident they will

do it this time.They have been

doing well in thelast five years.

Fitness is their biggest asset.

Former Indian hockey player— Dhanraj Pillay

Misplaced priorities lead to subversion of economic and social development ofa country as well as a State. Tamil Nadu has hundreds of woes that need urgentintervention of the State administration and, that too, on a war footing. Non-

availability of water for irrigation is converting the fertile Cauvery Delta region (the dis-tricts of Tiruchirappalli. Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and part of Cuddalore) into

a desert. This region is the food basket of Tamil Naduas the five lakh farmers here help the State meet itsrice requirement. If water from the Cauvery fails toreach the delta region, the farming operations wouldhalt and the rhythm of development would suffer asetback. The river, though originating in Karnataka, isthe lifeline of Tamil Nadu. Though the Cauvery RiverWater Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court haveset up the quantum of water to be released byKarnataka to Tamil Nadu, most of the time the latterends up at the mercy of Karnataka. One cannot blameKarnataka because it has to meet the drinking water

and irrigational needs of the State’s population also. If the south-west monsoon fails,Karnataka gets a cold and Tamil Nadu starts sneezing.

Though there are enough means to address the issue, no Government seems topay heed. One of the solutions is to link the Cauvery with the Godavari and transfer thesurplus water to Tamil Nadu through a series of canals. Nitin Gadkari, during his tenurein the Ministry of Water Resources, had assured Tamil Nadu that he would implementthe project. But he was shifted out while the Tamil Nadu Government did not take hisadvice seriously. Recently, all major political parties in Tamil Nadu met under the chair-manship of Chief Minister Stalin and passed a resolution asking the Union Governmentnot to allow Karnataka to build a dam at Mekedatu across the Cauvery. It is time forTamil Nadu to come out of this “resolution syndrome” and launch its own initiative toresolve the water crisis. The State could build desalination plants along its coastline whichwould produce more water than it needs. Stalin should seek help from the National Instituteof Ocean Technology and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research; two elite researchinstitutes in Chennai that have developed the technology for desalination of seawater.He needs to open a fresh chapter in the State’s development.

India’s huge population is a national issue. It is neither a nationalist nor communal issue.And it is certainly not a State or regional issue. Unfortunately, however, the narrative hasbeen divisive ever since the Uttar Pradesh Government proposed a two-child policy in

the State with incentives for followers and disincentives for violators. The latter would bedebarred from contesting local body elections, applying for Government jobs or receiv-ing subsidies. It is a typical law and order approach of the State to what is essentially asocial issue. There is enough empirical evidence that the rate of population growth is direct-ly proportional to the level of education and social awareness among the people. It is alsoknown that the States with the highest fertility rates also have the lowest socio-econom-ic indicators and this is particularly true of women. The Uttar Pradesh draft Bill does men-tion an awareness campaign in terms of making population control a compulsory sub-

ject in secondary schools, increase awareness andaccessibility of contraceptive measures, improved healthfacilities and reducing the newborns’ and maternal mor-tality rates. However, the political discourse ignores allthat, limiting it to discussing the communal implications.The BJP-ruled States are intent on following the UP exam-ple, with the non-BJP parties and States dissenting.

The BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as wellas the Darul Uloom Islamic seminary would do wellto recall the words of the Prime Minister in hisIndependence Day address of 2019. Referring to thepopulation problem, for the first time since coming to

office, Narendra Modi said the country should take inspiration from a small, socially awaresection of the population that plans a small family to be able to better provide for it. Socialawareness is what the Government should be promoting and the debate should not behitched to nationalism. Secondly, India should be moving away from coercive popula-tion control policies. The country has had a disturbing history in this regard and the prac-tice continues. Disincentivising violators is as coercive as the sterilisation drive of themid-1970s or limiting family planning programmes largely to female sterilisation. Untilthe Supreme Court banned mass sterilisation camps in 2016, poor women were pres-sured to undergo operations without even informing them of other family planning options.Thirdly, the Uttar Pradesh draft Bill should truly be debated for what it ignores. It simplydoes not apply to a large section of the poor population that can never aspire for aGovernment job or contest a panchayat post. As the saying goes, “development is thebest contraceptive”. If Bihar has a high fertility rate and perhaps the largest percentageof illiterate women, Kerala with a high literacy rate has a low fertility rate. Despite all this,India’s growth rate is slowing down in recent decades and is shortly expected to hit replace-ment fertility levels thanks to anti-poverty measures, rising education levels and grow-ing urbanisation. All that is required is a dose of rational thought.

Population boom

Water woesThe decades-old Cauvery dispute should

be resolved with innovative ideas

PICTALK

A tricycle wades through a waterlogged road during heavy rains in the Azadpur area in New Delhi PTI

It may be a real issue but rather than using coercion,bringing about more awareness is the best way forward

The story of policies andfarmers working together

KANWAR IS PART OF SANATAN CULTURE BUT SAVING LIVES IS OF PARAMOUNT

IMPORTANCE (FOR OUR GOVERNMENT).— UTTARAKHAND CHIEF MINISTER

PUSHKAR SINGH DHAMI

WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL AS ONAM IS FASTAPPROACHING AND…IT WOULD SEE PEOPLECROWDING IN ALL PLACES.— KERALA CHIEF MINISTERPINARAYI VIJAYAN

Two major recent changes, com-ing in quick succession, which aredirectly related to the farm sec-tor initiatives of the Mods

Government bode well for a further pushfor sectoral economic growth and are like-ly to improve incomes and create surplusvalue for farmers across the country.

The first one is the move to entrustthe responsibility of Cooperation basedon the theme of “Sahakar Se Samriddhi”(Prosperity through Cooperation) to anexperienced Cooperative movement vet-eran like Union Home Minister AmitShah, and the other is the decision tobring the Mandis or the AgricultureProduce Marketing Committees underthe purview of the `1 lakh crore AgriInfrastructure Fund (AIF) as part of theAtma Nirbhar package.

These two are a continuation of aseries of steps taken in the agriculturespace by both editions of the ModsGovernment. Perhaps at no time in thepast have so many decisions for bringingabout positive changes in this sectorrolledin like now.

Of course, this is not to forget thewidespread protests against the three farmlaws mainly from farmers in Punjab andHaryana who were worried that the“social and economic compact” amongfarmers and Arthias (CommissionAgents) would be broken with the com-ing into force of these Acts. Looking back,it needs to be conceded that the "market-ing" or "communication of intent" of theActs could have been done better from theside of the Establishment. Unfortunately,in our country, there is a proclivity topoliticise and exploit misunderstand-ings among political parties depending onshort-term exigencies. No party is freefrom this malaise.

While a separate focus onCooperation could do good to manyareas, it is in agriculture and allied activ-ities that the immediate potential is thegreatest. It is hoped that the spirit ofCooperation which has worked wondersin the dairy sector can be replicated withgreater vigour in all other areas includ-ing banking but after taking care to seethat “commercial viability” of opera-tions is never jeopardised. That should bethe Least Common Denominator (LCD)of any changes or reforms. Unless thereis a common commercial benefit to bederived, there is no way any change orreform will be welcomed with enthusi-asm. As the man who turned around theAhmedabad District Cooperative Bank in1999-2000 (sans any support from thecaste-dynamics which controlled thisbank then) there is nobody better than the54-year-old Amit Shah to bring in thischange.

The Cabinet decision permittingMandis to be financed under the AIFgives a lie to the theory that the Centreaimed to torpedo or overturn the systemof Mandis or the role of the Arthias andthe APMCs. Viewed from that perspec-

When all other sectors recorded negative growth last year, the only brightspot was agriculture which recorded close to four per cent growth

OF COURSE, THIS IS NOT TO

FORGET THEWIDESPREAD

PROTESTSAGAINST THETHREE FARM

LAWS MAINLYFROM FARMERS IN PUNJAB ANDHARYANA WHO

WERE WORRIEDTHAT THE ‘SOCIAL

AND ECONOMICCOMPACT’ AMONG

FARMERS ANDCOMMISSION

AGENTS WOULDBE BROKEN

WITH THE COMINGINTO FORCE

OF THESE ACTS

Back in 1962, the legendary Andy Warhol painted one of the mostfamous works of art — Campbell’s Soup Cans. In 2015, a youngand dynamic artist, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, showed off her dual

cultural experience through her piece — I Still Face You. Though 53 yearsapart, both are bound by a common thread: They are works of contem-porary art. After the mid-20th century, we reached a transition pointwith the rise of 'abstract expressionism’ that leaned away from the con-tent of a piece and focused more on the finished product. Works of JacksonPollock which were as much about him dripping paint on canvas as aboutthe finished product are prime examples of what paved the way for whatwe today know as contemporary art. Despite the knowledge of the genre,for many, defining contemporary art can be tricky. While its title appearsstraightforward and simplistic, its modern-day meaning is not clearlydefined. In the Indian scheme of things, contemporary artists use thegenre as their medium to engage with issues linked to the nation's tur-bulent history. Colonisation, decolonisation, division, politics, wider geopo-

litical agendas, and nuances of secularism are some areasartists respondto and unleash their creativity to send out a powerful message. Somemight argue that there is a lack of exposure for Indian artists on the inter-national platform butin reality, Indian contemporary artists are thrivingand have been growing in strength over the years.

In the early 20th century, the Bengal School of Art emerged as anavant-garde nationalist movement that encouraged students to imitateMughal miniatures. Gradually, the movement took a turn, it was claimed,with foreign influences from renowned artists like Picasso making theirway into the Indian art scene. As artists like MF Hussain and FN Souzatravelled the world, they were inspired by the environment they thrivedin, by globalisation, and by a myriad of cultural experiences. They broughtthe contemporary art movement back to their motherland and took it togreater heights in the last decade of the 20th century. The 1990s werepivotal years in India's contemporary art story when Indian artists beganto explore new concepts in their works, moving away from traditional,academic ones, and also increased the number of forms they used. Itis safe to say the 1990s were a time of artistic liberalisation. With eco-nomic liberalisation sweeping across the country around the same time,artists leveraged it to tell stories through their works. They told extraor-dinary stories about the migrant worker — in Subodh Gupta’s SaatSamundar Paar-and the conflict between man and nature and nature andtechnology in the face of rapid development as we see in JagannathPanda's works. While seemingly diverse, contemporary art instigatesits viewers to look beyond the surface, to think unconventionally, andstep inside the artist’s world to envision the world through their eyes.In their worlds, there is a deep desire to inculcate change through worksof art. In this attempt to use contemporary art as a means of drivingchange, it is ironic that many people claim they do not “get” the con-cepts. This could be because unlike Greek sculptures or Egyptian tombs,art after 1960 reflects our recent past. Contemporary art works are knownto speak to the dramatic soul and challenge political and technologicalchanges which have taken place over the last 60 years.

As we look back, we realise how far we have come into a post-modernist era. At the same time, we also look towards the future, wherecontemporary art, much like the world we live in, becomes increasing-ly diverse, and will not be easily defined through artistic themes, visu-al characteristics, and cultural concerns.

(The writer is a professional artist, educator, art critic and co-founderof You Lead India Foundation. The views expressed are personal.)

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lock-downs, mental health is a

topic of deliberation among themasses and not just psycholo-gy professionals. Students’ men-tal health issues are on the rise- every passing year marked bynervous breakdowns and sui-cides - and the pandemic hasadded a significant layer ofmental stress that is particular-ly concerning.

Recently, students under-went a harrowing period ofuncertainty over the class XIIboard examinations while theCBSE mulled alternatives. Thefinal decision - the cancellationof the exams and a new struc-ture for allotting marks — hastriggered fresh bouts of anxiety.The students continue to beconcerned about their futureeducational prospects.

Such stress compoundsstudents’ general anxietiesaround adulthood, adaptingto e-learning, the pandemic,and numerous other physicaland psychological changes theyundergo.

Many of these stressorsare just as present in adultsbut the key difference is whenthey affect developing chil-dren during their formativeyears, they can have lifelongimpacts. Studies show thebrain of a child witnessesmaximum growth betweensix and 13 years.

Thus, within pedagogy,there is an increasing move-ment beyond the cognitivecapacities of children andfocus on their holistic devel-opment so that they are bet-ter equipped to navigate theworld. The SEE Learning

program that focuses on thesocial, emotional, and ethicalliteracy of K-12 students isone such approach.

The Social, Emotionaland Ethical (SEE) Learningprogram - developed atEmory University is an artic-ulation of the vision of theDalai Lama to educate theheart - takes into account evi-

dence presented by the earli-er Social and EducationalLearning (SEL) community.In fact, Dr. Daniel Goleman,a pioneer in the SEL commu-nity, is a key advisor to theSEE Learning program.

Other pioneers in SEL suchas Dr.James Heckman and Dr.James Comer realized thatthough cognitive skills are fun-damental, soft skills or lifeskills are just as significant to theeventual development of chil-dren. SEL programs focus ontwo primary domains: emo-tional intelligence and socialskills (the ability to engagewith the external world). SEELearning expounds upon theseconcepts of SEL through threecritical lenses - introduction ofethical literacy, i.e., compassionwith discernment, trauma-informed resiliency approach,

and systems thinking perspec-tive. The benefits to the over-all social well-being, when soci-eties are driven by such atti-tudes, are becoming clearerthan ever.

About the systems thinkingperspective, it is imperative tounderstand that we live in aglobal, interconnected andextremely complex society gov-erned by a variety of systems.Therefore, it is not sufficient tomerely give children emotion-al literacy, and the ability tocommunicate and socialize, aspresent-day needs make itimportant to ground themwith the tools to be systemsthinkers.

This allows students tounderstand the complex net-work of systems and the inter-play of factors forming thesystem in any situation, there-

by equipping them with greaterawareness to make life decisionsthat benefit not just them butthe larger community they area part of.

The SEE Learning pro-gram has other unique differ-entiators that distinguish itfrom other pedagogicalapproaches. The first is anemphasis on cultivating the“skill of attention” since it is acore skill that impacts allaspects of learning. Anotherdifferentiating factor is that itrecognizes the breadth of expe-riences, circumstances, andfactors that affect the ability ofstudents to reflect, deal withemotions and self-regulate.

The approach also benefitsthose outside the context oftrauma. Every circumstancethat human beings find them-selves in is ultimately manifest-

ed as a combination of safetyand fear. Navigating these cir-cumstances is enhanced by agreater understanding of phys-ical nervous systems, regulationof stress through body-basedpractices, and cultivation of“body literacy”. Such practicesbetter equip students to dealwith stress regularly.

It is hard to overstate theimportance of pedagogicalapproaches like SEE Learningin current times. It has been atumultuous time for students asthe pandemic has jeopardizedthe future for many of them,particularly those geared totake the CBSE/ISC boardexams. SEE Learning can charta clear path to ensure that stu-dents have the social and eth-ical literacy to find solutionsthat best serve the problems ofthis volatile world.

SEE Learning emphasises a secular approach to ethics guided by universal traits of compassion and kindness

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 15, 2021

07

www.dailypioneer.com facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

FIRSTCOLUMNA MOVEMENT CALLEDCONTEMPORARY ARTDefining liberalisation of art, Indian contemporary

artists are thriving and have been growing in strength

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

(The writer is a top executive in a public

sector bank. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

SEE Learning may drive the pedagogical revolution

RESHMA

PIRAMAL

NEHA

BHATIA

(Reshma Piramal is HeadOperations (South), SEE

Learning India, Max IndiaFoundation. Neha Bhatia is

Head Operations (North). Theviews expressed are personal.)

GUNJAN SHRIVASTAVA

tive, this is just the right thing todo to reassure our farmers and theAgri ecosystem which includes theArthias (who also cultivate apartfrom providing informal financialmediation including loans) and theAPMCs which are aggregatingpoints/centres for market controlat the local level. Like in all otherorganisations, there are powerplays in the APMCs too.

There has been a continuousfocus by the Centre on reformingthe agriculture sector though it ison the State List. It takes two totango as they say. Unless the Statesalso work in tandem with theCentre on policy implementationit will be difficult to achieve thedesired outcomes.

There are at least 10majormoves that have been introducedin the last six to seven years for thebenefit of the farm sector.

The MSP for most commodi-ties like paddy, wheat, pulses, soy-abean, cotton, etc., has been hikedfrom 37 per cent to 50 per centinthe last seven years. Commonpaddy for instance which wasbeing procured at ̀ 1360 in the firstyear of Mods I is now being pro-cured at `1940 a quintal. Wheat isnow being bought by theGovernment at `1975 against`1450 then. Soyabean has seen arise from `2560 to `3950, whilecotton fetches ̀ 6025 against ̀ 4050then.

The efficiency of procurementhas improved with paddy andwheat in the major producer Statesbeing supported by FCI, pulses andoilseeds by NAFED, and cotton by

the CCI. In February 2019, theinterest subvention on crop loanswherein the Centre pays a total offive per cent subsidy annually forprompt repaying borrowers andtwo per cent for all others wasextended to cover working capitalloans for dairy, poultry, and fish-eries farmers. While the dairysector has seen loans being givenunder this scheme, the low-costloan is yet to pick up under fish-eries and poultry for various rea-sons related to coordination andsectoral problems. (For instance,insurance cover is practically notavailable for poultry.)

The Department ofAgriculture and the Department ofFinancial Services, mainly with theactive participation of banks led bythe State Bank of India, hascon-ducted a Kisan Credit CardSaturation Drive since February2020 to include the unfoundedfarmers under the KCC scheme.

For farmers, the Centre intro-duced the much-vaunted PMKisan Scheme in 2019 wherebythey get `6000 every year throughDirect Benefit Transfer to theiraccounts without a paisa of leak-age. The number of farmers receiv-ing this benefit, on average, isabout 10 crore. The allocation forthis year is `65,000 crore. The totalamount paid so far under thescheme by the Centre is about `2lakh crore.

During the lockdown last year,the Centre transferred about`30,000 crore to the accounts ofabout 20 crore women owingbasic banking accounts for three

months as income support. Thishad gone mainly to the accountsof women of. agricultural families.

Recently, the UnionGovernment hiked subsidy rateson DAP fertiliser by `700 per bag.This would cost an extra `14,775crore to the Government but thebenefit goes directly to the farm-ers.

The Atma Nirbhar packagehad provided for an additionalcredit deployment of `2 lakh croreto farmers and the target hasalmost been achieved.

The Agri Infrastructure Fundthat envisages credit deploymentof `1 lakh crores with. Interest sub-vention of seven per cent annual-ly for a tenure of seven years isbeing closely monitored for imple-mentation.

A Credit Guarantee Fund forfarm loans, under NABARD, hasalready been formulated. Once itis rolled out, it will de-risk agricul-tural lending to a large extent.

When all other sectors record-ed negative growth last year, theonly bright spot was agricultureand allied activities which record-ed close to four per cent growth.

It is a matter of pride that ourfarmers have worked their heartsout to produce food in plenty forall of us. As a bank executive, it ismy thesis that the ModsGovernment's well-meaning stepshave played a great role in this out-come. It is for academics to studythese efforts in their entirety.Surely, they will find a lot that ispositive in terms of impact in thesegovernmental measures.

S ADIKESVAN

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 15, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

RattanIndia-backed EVmaker Revolt Motors haswelcomed the new

Maharashtra Electric VehiclePolicy, saying itsimplementation, in addition tothe FAME II incentives, willaccelerate the process of EVadoption in the state.Moreover, the increased subsidy being offered under the newscheme will make EV motorcycles more affordable and accessible toconsumers, Revolt Motors said on Wednesday. Separately, creditratings agency ICRA said that given the state's sizeable contributionto overall vehicle sales in India, the policy's allocation towardsdemand incentive (including early-bird discount) is a major positive.On Tuesday, Maharashtra government unveiled its new EV policywith an aim of making electric vehicles achieve 10 per cent share oftotal registrations by 2025, among others. The new policy, which hasupdated the one announced in 2018, was released by AdditionalChief Secretary (Transport) Ashish Singh and state environmentminister Aaditya Thackeray, among others.

Reliance Power on Wednesdaysaid it has receivedshareholders' approval to issue

shares and warrants worth Rs 1,325crore to its promoter firm RelianceInfrastructure on preferential basis.The issue of shares and warrants toRInfra is aimed at reducing Reliance Power's standalone debt by Rs1,325 crore. "The Shareholders of Reliance Power Limited (ReliancePower), through postal ballot, have approved with overwhelmingmajority, preferential issue of equity shares and warrants," acompany statement said. Accordingly, it said that Reliance Powershall allot 59.50 crore equity shares and 73 crore warrantsconvertible into equivalent number of equity shares of the companyat a price of Rs 10 each by conversion of debt, aggregating up toRs 1,325 crore, to Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, a listed promotercompany.Reliance Infrastructure and other promoter group holdingin Reliance Power will increase to 24.98 per cent and shall furtherincrease to 38.24 per cent on conversion of warrants, benefitting 8lakh shareholders of Reliance Infrastructure, it said.

Reliance Power gets nodfor issue of shares to RInfra

The country's largestcarmaker Maruti SuzukiIndia (MSI) is planning to

invest around Rs 18,000 croreon a new manufacturing facilityin Haryana, as per a topcompany official. The new plantwould replace the company'sGurugram-based facility and isexpected to have an installed production capacity of 7.5-10 lakhunits per annum. While confirming the Rs 18,000 crore investmentplan, MSI Chairman RC Bhargava told PTI that the company hadalways planned to shift the Gurugram facility to a nearby location.He however declined to share details about the location finalised bythe company. "We had said a long time ago that we will shift ourGurugram plant and we will shift it close by somewhere inHaryana..so that is there," he said. The auto major however remainswary of the state's new policy that has mandated 75 per cent jobreservation for the locals in business and factory establishments.

Maruti lines up Rs 18,000 crinvestment for new plant

The initial public offering offood delivery platformZomato opened on

Wednesday, with more than 36per cent of shares offered beingsubscribed in the initial hours.The offer received bids for 26.10crore equity shares against anIPO size of 71.92 crore, stockexchange data showed. Retail investors sought 1.91 times theportion reserved for them. Against 12.95 crore shares reserved forretail individual investors, 24.76 crore shares were bid by 13.30hours. Non-institutional investors put in bids for 7 per cent againsttheir reserved portion. The portion set aside for employees wassubscribed 6 per cent, while qualified institutional buyers have putin bids for 2.69 lakh equity shares against their reserved portion of38.88 crore equity shares.Shares in the IPO, which is the biggest inIndia this year, are being offered in a price band of Rs 72-76 pershare. Zomato has already mobilised Rs 4,196.51 crore from 186anchor investors on July 13, a day before the issue opening.

Zomato IPO subscribed 36 percent in early hours

EV policy to accelerateelectric vehicle adoption

PNS n NEW DELHI

The severity of the secondwave of COVID-19 infectionsin India poses a key challengefor the FMCG industry and thespread of the virus to ruralareas on a relatively higherscale as compared to the firstwave is also expected to weighon industry growth outlook,according to ITC Ltd.

There is heightened uncer-tainty around the timing andshape of the recovery trajecto-ry of overall economic growthin India due to the virus, thecompany said in its AnnualReport for 2020-21.

In terms of consumption,urban-led recovery may berelatively muted compared to

the first wave as consumersswitch to precautionary savingsmode and rising healthcarecosts eat into household spend-ing, while rural demand mayalso be blunted by the large-scale spread of the virus to the

hinterland in the second wave."The severity of the second

wave of COVID-19 infectionsin the country poses a key chal-lenge and remains a key mon-itorable for the FMCG indus-try in the near-term," the direc-

tors of the company said in thereport.

There is a perceptible shiftwith consumers adopting amore precautionary savingsapproach with resources beingset aside for medical needs.

"The spread of the virus torural areas on a relatively high-er scale as compared to the firstwave, is also expected to weighon industry growth outlook,"the report added.

Stating that ITC continuesto monitor the "evolving situ-ation", the company said it "willrespond with agility to enhanceits market standing while man-aging risks associated with theheightened uncertainties inthe business environment."

While the supply chain is

fully operational, constraints inthe number of operating out-lets and limited hours of oper-ation continue to pose front-end challenges for the FMCGindustry, it added.

"Recent learnings in dealingwith the pandemic spanningsales and distribution, supplychain operations, innovationand product development willcontinue to be leveraged in thisregard," the company said.

Commenting on the coun-try's economic growthprospects, the company saidwhile earlier estimates ofIndia's GDP growth for 2021-22 ranged between 11 percent to 13 per cent, "the feroc-ity of the second wave inIndia since February, 2021

has adversely impacted eco-nomic prospects".

"High frequency indicatorspoint to economic activityhaving fallen by (around) 25-30 per cent from nearly pre-COVID levels in February-March 2021. This has led tosharp downward revisions tothe earlier growth projectionsby 200 to 300 basis points," thecompany's annual report said.

Stating that "there is height-ened uncertainty around thetiming and shape of the recov-ery trajectory", ITC said, "arapid scale up in the pace ofvaccination and gearing up ofthe healthcare infrastructureto mitigate the impact of pos-sible future outbreaks wouldbe critical going forward."

Second wave poses challenge for FMCG industry: ITC

PNS n NEW DELHI

E-commerce player Snapdealon Wednesday said it hassigned an agreement withFICCI Ladies Organisation(FLO) and has launched anonline program to helpwomen-led small and mediumbusinesses (SMBs) in the coun-try to digitise their operationsand bring them online.

The year-long program willbe open for all FICCI womenmembers, artisans and NGOsassociated with FICCI FloCentres across its 17 regionalcentres in pan-India, a state-ment said. As part of the pro-gramme, Snapdeal will con-duct online training, work-shops, and induct them intoselling online, it added.

It will focus on sharingknowledge and help themunderstand e-commerce busi-ness fundamentals and gettingthem familiar with related tools.

The programme will educatethem about building their ownbrands, essentials of sellingonline including cataloguing,writing product descriptions,inventory and order manage-ment. It will also focus on teach-ing digital marketing to growbusiness and increase productreach to more customers, thestatement said. "In the currenttimes when the world is stillgrappling with the pandemic sit-uation, the importance of onlinemarketing has been realised

more than ever. FLO aims to eco-nomically empower women andE-commerce can directly con-nect women to the market,"Ujjwala Singhania, NationalPresident of FLO, said.

Singhania added that FLOis working towards facilitatingthe process of women empow-erment by enabling them tojoin the digital bandwagon topromote their businesses, andthe association with Snapdealis very significant in thisdirection.

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexjump ed 134 p oints onWednesday, tracking gainsmainly in IT stocks, despiteweak global cues.

The 30-share BSE indexended 134.32 points or 0.25per cent higher at 52,904.05,while the broader NSE Niftyadvanced 41.60 points or0.26 per cent to 15,853.95.

Tech Mahindra was thetop gainer in the Sensexpack, rising over 2 per cent,followed by HCL Tech,Infosys, L&T, Tata Steel and

ITC. On the other hand,Maruti, HUL, Nestle Indiaand Dr Reddy's were amongthe laggards.

"Dropping institutionalparticipation rates havecontributed in part to a 20per cent drop in daily mar-ket volumes – however,market breadth and retailparticipation in futures seg-ment continue to remainrobust and underpinningstrength in ongoing broadmarket ra l ly, " s a id SHariharan, Head- SalesTrading, Emkay GlobalFinancial Services.

Sensex rises 134 pts;Nifty tops 15,850

PNS n MUMBAI

Halting its three-day winningrun, the rupee on Wednesdaydeclined by 10 paise to closeat 74.59 (provisional) againstthe US dollar.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the domes-tic currency opened at 74.57against the American curren-cy, and slipped further toclose at 74.59, registering adecline of 10 paise over itsprevious close. On Tuesday,the rupee had closed at 74.49against the US dollar.

"The market focus is on howJerome Powell will react to thesurging US CPI data and howlong can Federal Reserve pol-icy stay ultra-loose. Powell'sdovish tone at tonight's semi-annual testimony, will be neg-ative for USDINR spot but if hetalks about tapering the bondpurchases then we may see thespot to trade towards 75 zone,"said Rahul Gupta, Head OfResearch- Currency, EmkayGlobal Financial Services.

Rupee snaps 3-daywinning streak,drops 10 paise to74.59/USD

PNS n NEW DELHI

Gold in the national capitalon Wednesday was margin-ally up by Rs 23 to Rs 47,024per 10 gram, according toHDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, theprecious metal had closed atRs 47,001 per 10 gram.

Silver, however, dipped Rs399 to Rs 67,663 per kg,from Rs 68,062 per kg in theprevious trade.

In the international mar-ket, gold was trading higherat USD 1,812 per ounce andsilver was flat at USD 26.02per ounce.

Gold gainsmarginally;silver lowerby Rs 399

PNS n NEW DELHI

Fertiliser major IFFCO's armIFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd issetting up 17 Farmer ProducerOrganisation (FPOs) inGujarat in association withNABARD and NCDC.

A total of 5,000 farmers willget associated with these FPOsby the end of this year andmore than 50,000 farmers by2025, IFFCO Kisan said in astatement.

These FPOs are being estab-lished in association withNational Bank for Agricultureand Rural Development(NABARD) and NationalCooperative DevelopmentCorporation (NCDC) and willbe spread across several dis-tricts of Gujarat, it added.

"IFFCO Kisan has beenselected by two implementingagencies – NABARD andNCDC to set up 17 FPOs inthe state of Gujarat. TheseFPOs will cater to variouskinds of crop,” said SanjeevSharma, Chief- Agri BusinessServices, IFFCO Kisan SancharLtd.

The company said it intendsto hand hold farmers for cre-ating a sustainable businessmodel.

It will impart regular train-ing on agri-tech usage, Packageof Practices (PoPs), post har-vest management, primaryprocessing, quality parame-ters, market intelligence anddiverse business planning etc.

IFFCO Kisan would also befacilitating market linkage sup-port to these FPOs/ farmersunder its Farmer Forward

Linking Program (FFLP) tofarmers. IFFCO Kisan willestablish five FPOs in associationwith NABARD in four districtsAnand, Patan, Surendranagarand Valsad. These FPOs willfocus on banana, castor, cuminand cashew/ mango. The com-pany will set up 12 FPOs inGujarat in association withNCDC.

These FPOs will be locatedin Junagarh and Sabarkanthadistricts with both the districtshaving 6 FPOs each.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) on Wednesdayreleased The Future of Workis Now: Is APAC Ready?research study by Deloitte,commissioned by AutodeskFoundation. Exploring thestate of automation and thefuture of work across 12APAC countries includingAustralia, Bangladesh, India,Indonesia, Japan, Korea,Myanmar, Pakistan, thePhilippines, Singapore,Thailand, and Vietnam, thereport aims to help identifythe labour markets most vul-nerable to technological dis-ruption in APAC and proposesolutions to help workforces

thrive as automation becomesa reality.

The research finds India,Bangladesh, and Pakistan aremost at risk and least preparedfor the coming wave ofautomation. In particular,India ranks fifth highest interms of the impact fromautomation and ninth interms of their level prepared-ness for this impact. Thecountry faces a greater likeli-hood of being impacted byautomation due to largeremployment shares in agricul-ture, manufacturing, and con-struction, all identified ashigh-risk industries by thereport. COVID-19 has great-ly accelerated the adoption ofautomation across the world.

Agri, construction most at risk of automation impact

PNS n NEW DELHI

Shares of Mindtree onWednesday zoomed over 9per cent after the IT firmposted a 61.2 per cent jumpin its consolidated net profitfor the June quarter andexuded confidence in logginga double-digit revenuegrowth in FY'22.

The stock jumped 9.22 percent to Rs 2,725 -- its 52 weekhigh -- at the BSE.

On the NSE, it gained 9.18per cent to its one-year highof Rs 2,725.

Mindtree on Tuesdayposted a 61.2 per cent jumpin its consolidated net profitat Rs 343.4 crore for the Junequarter.

The Bengaluru-basedcompany, which has regis-tered a net profit of Rs 213crore in the June 2020 quar-ter, said it is witnessingbroad-based growth acrossindustries and services andthat its deal pipeline contin-ues to remain strong.

Mindtree sharesjump over 9 pc;at 52-wk highafter Q1 earnings

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Income Tax Departmenthas alleged "concealment" of Rs880 crore income after it sur-veyed a leading manpower ser-vice providing company inBengaluru.

The company, Quess CorpLimited, has refuted the charge,saying it was extending fullcooperation to thedepartment and that ithas not received anyclaims to date.

The survey opera-tion was launchedon July 8 at twopremises of thecompany in thecapital city ofKarnataka.

"The assessee hasbeen claiming hugededuction under sec-tion 80JJAA of theIncome-tax Act, 1961which incentivises newemployment generation,subject to fulfilment ofcertain conditions such asemoluments paid to the

employee which should be lessthan Rs 25,000 per month andnumber of days of employmentetc," the CBDT had said in astatement issued here onTuesday.

"Overall, the survey hasresulted in detection of con-cealment of

i n c om eto the

tune

of Rs 880 crore spread over var-ious assessment years," itclaimed.

The Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) frames policyfor the tax department.

When sought a response, acompany spokesperson provid-ed to PTI its statement filedbefore the stock exchange onWednesday in connection withthe survey conducted against itand its subsidiary, TerrierSecurity Services.

"The queries raised to dateby the Income Tax depart-

ment are interpretationalin nature.While we await

further communica-tion, will continue to

cooperate withthem even as

we standcommitted

to vigor-o u s l ydefend-

ing ourinterpretation

using all recourseavailable to us," the

company said.

Quess Corp said it is at theforefront of employment gen-eration in the formalised sec-tor, with over 3,63,000 employ-ees on its rolls.

"As a responsible entity, weobserve all auditing andaccounting requirements andcontinue to be a 100 per centcompliant tax payer."

"The company paid a total ofRs 2,900 crore in tax and statu-tory contributions to the gov-ernment in financial year 2021,which represents 12 times thecompany's normalized profitfor the year, or 26 per cent ofits revenue," it said.

The statement said the com-pany maintains a scrupulousrecord of its financial dealings,and contributes towardsnation-building as a responsi-ble business.

"Our claims under section80JJAA are entirely in linewith the letter, spirit and intentof the law, and aligned withprevailing industry practices.We further refute any allega-tions of 'concealment' ofincome," the company said.

CBDT sees Rs 880-cr income‘concealed’ after survey on firm

TCS adds over 7K employeesin UK; now employs over 18K PNS n NEW DELHI

India's largest IT firm TataConsultancy Services (TCS) onWednesday said it has addedover 7,000 employees in theUK, including 1,800 traineesover the past five years.

The Mumbai-based compa-ny currently employs over18,000 people in the UK.

"To support its growth, ithas added more than 7,000employees, including 1,800trainees, over the last fiveyears, making it among the topUK recruiters of IT servicestalent.

"TCS currently employsover 18,000 people in 30 loca-tions around the country andintends to recruit an addition-al 1,500 employees in 2021,"TCS said in a regulatory filing.

It added that women makeup 28 per cent of employees,much higher than the 17 percent average in the UK IT sec-tor. "TCS has upskilled morethan 90 per cent of its UK staffin the last two years, reflectingits commitment to nurturinglocal IT talent. It has beennamed the #1 Top Employer in

the UK by the Top EmployersInstitute and among the Top 25Best Big Companies to Workfor in the UK," it said.

The company said it isinvesting in the tech profes-sionals of the future, equippingyoung people with the skillsand passion to pursue STEM(science, technology, engineer-ing and mathematics) sub-jects and careers in the indus-try. TCS' total headcountstood at 509,058 at the end of

June 2021 quarter. The filingnoted that TCS has beenranked number one by revenueamong the top-30 suppliers ofsoftware and IT services to theUK Market byTechMarketView. The reportis compiled through a detailedanalysis of the UK revenues ofover 200 publicly quoted andprivately held companies.

TCS has moved up fromlast year's second position, thefiling said.

Snapdeal, FLO ink pact to digitise women-owned biz

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar setting up FPOsin Guj in tie-up with NABARD, NCDC

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

9

Vijayawada Thursday July 15, 2021health

FUN

odel-actorDarasingKhurana, anactive philan-thropist, cameup with the

Pause.Breathe.TalkFoundation to help thosewho suffer from a mentalcondition and to offermental health services tothe needy. Khuranalaunched the foundationafter the sudden death ofactor Sushant Singh Rajputlast year.

The Pause.Breathe.TalkFoundation has severalpsychologists and psychia-trists in the panel, whohave been helping theneedy for over a year.During this time, herealised that many peoplesuffer from social anxiety,a serious mental healthcondition, where every daysocial interactions causeanxiety, fear or embarrass-ment. So Darasing, who’salso a socially activecelebrity along with lead-ing experts in the fieldhave come up with fivethings to overcome socialanxiety. Here’s what theysuggest:

Watch your breathing

Breathing techniques areoften recommended topromote relaxation or fordealing with stress or anxi-ety attacks. When youbreathe, your blood cellsreceive oxygen and releasecarbon dioxide. Whenpeople are anxious, howev-er, they tend to take rapid,shallow breaths from thechest. Whenever you areanxious, focus on yourbreathing. Breathe in, holdyour breath and count till5, and then breathe out. Ifyou do this for 70-80times, you’ll definitely feelcalmer.

Behaviour modifica-tion is a must

Remember, nothing willchange around you! Thesocial situation will contin-ue to remain the way it is.So, the best way is to planthoroughly for a social sit-uation that makes you ner-vous. For instance, if it'sabout going on a date, youshould plan for each andevery aspect of it. The ideais to recognise what trig-gers your anxiety and tryto minimise the activitiesthat might trigger anxiety.Also, if you feel sociallyanxious and you want towork on it, you must startgoing out with people whoare close to you and whowill take care of you whenyou’re feeling anxious.

Have a gratitude jour-nal

You must write downthe positive things thathappened with youthroughout the day. Onething that counters anxietya lot is gratitude. Initially,it might look a bit fake andmay demand a lot of effort,

but you must still do it.Initially, your negativethoughts might be toooverpowering, but youmust understand the nega-tive thoughts are alreadythere within you, so youmust cultivate thoughts ofgratitude to balance thingsout.

Sweat it out

When we feel anxious,our body is primed forfight or flight, and releasesthe stress hormones corti-sol and adrenaline; thiscan cause elevated blood

pressure, a racing heart,and sweating. Exercise canhelp us burn off the nega-tive energy that, in ourmore primitive days,would have been usedeither fleeing, or fighting, athreat. You could take abrisk walk, put on yourrunning shoes and hit thetarmac, or jump around toan aerobics video or yourfavourite music in your liv-ing room. Regular exerciseand meditation really helpin keeping one centred.That’s something you mustdo if you want to over-

come social anxiety.

Open up, meet theexperts

Communication is thekey in all mental healthconditions. Sharing yourfeelings and speaking topeople around you is perti-nent. Listening is alsoimportant at times.Imagine something is trig-gering your anxiety, whichis a result of negativethoughts about you thatcome to your mind againand again.

If you shift the focus ofyour thoughts towardssomeone else, that alsohelps in containing theanxiety. Also, make sureyou reach out to a psychol-ogist and a psychiatrist.Professional guidance is amust if you want the bestresults. It’s imperative touse these two servicessimultaneously rather thangiving importance to oneand skipping the other.Medication and therapyare equally important.

GET OVER SOCIALANXIETY IN FIVE STEPS

M

igraine is one of thecommonest causes ofheadaches. But didyou know thatmigraine is also oneof the commonest

causes of dizziness?The pandemic has changed

not only the way we live andwork, it has also altered sicknesspatterns. The NationalHeadache Foundation reporteda 70 per cent rise in the numberof migraine attacks during 2021.Migraine is commonly thoughtto be just a headache. But itactually can present in manyways like imbalance, dizziness,disorientation, neck pain, or thecommon throbbing headache.

Over 10 per cent of migrainesufferers have vertigo and dizzi-ness as their primary symptoms.This form of migraine is calledVestibular migraine. It is usuallyassociated with nausea andvomiting or difficulty in con-centrating.

The dizzy episodes can lastfrom seconds to hours to days.While migraine attacks ofteninvolve recurrent, throbbingheadaches, vestibular migrainemay or may not have anyaccompanying headache. Manyvestibular migraine patientscannot tolerate loud sounds orbright lights. This is called sen-sory amplification, meaningthat their sensory systems areover-sensitive. These patientsoften have motion sickness.Vestibular migraine is morecommon in patients in the 20-

40 year age bracket, but chil-dren as young as five years andseniors up to 60 years may suf-fer from it as well.

Common migraine trig-gers

Most vestibular migrainepatients will have specific trig-gers which bring on theirattacks. The most common trig-gers include inadequate sleep,skipping meals, stress, andextended screen time (this hasincreased multi-fold during thepandemic!)

How do we diagnoseVestibular Migraine?

A thorough history is themost crucial part of the workupof these patients. This should befollowed by a vestibular evalua-tion which involves assessmentof the balance system by varioustests like VNG(Videonystagmography),Subjective Visual Vertical(SVV), Dynamic Visual Acuity(DVA), etc. NeuroEquilibriumis the world's largest Vertigoand Balance Clinics chain, withover 150 centers in India. Theseclinics are equipped to diagnoseand treat all causes of vertigoand dizziness.

How is it treated?

Vestibular migraine is largelyinfluenced by diet and lifestyle.Some simple dietary tips toreduce the incidence and severi-ty of dizzy episodes are:

Eating on time: Skipping

breakfast is the singularly mostimportant trigger to increaseyour headaches and imbalance.Taking out those 15 minutes inthe morning to have breakfast isthe first and most importantpart of your treatment. Fastingcan also aggravate symptoms.

Reduce your caffeine intake:Slow down on your tea, coffee,and chocolates!

MSG: Monosodium gluta-mate is used as a taste enhancerused especially in Chinese food.Avoid MSG intake.

Alcohol: Certain types ofalcohol, particularly red wine,have been seen to triggermigraine attacks.

Some lifestyle modificationswhich help in controlling theheadaches and dizziness inmigraine include:

Reducing screen time: Longhours in front of your phone orlaptop can cause a lot of strainand aggravate migraines. Trynot to look at the screen whenyou are scrolling.

Try to relax and cool downmentally. Many migraineurs arehighly driven perfectionists.This strains the already over-worked nervous system.“Letting go” will go a long wayin helping you get better.

Try to sleep on time.Adequate sleep has profoundhealing properties on the ner-vous system.

(The writer is Dr AnitaBhandari, ENT specialist,Neurotologist and Founder atNeuroEquilibrium.)

M

Watch out for those headaches

RESTORING FAITH

IN HUMANITY RACHEL DAMMALA

ust a day ago weheard the news of apup brutally mur-dered by miscreantsfor no apparent rea-son. A few weeks ago,

the story of Bruno in Keralabeing beaten to death too, hasboiled the blood of not just ‘ani-mal lovers’ but everybody withan empathetic heart. We wroteabout how perpetrators of suchheinous crimes are still allowedto walk free after paying a laugh-able fine of Rs 50 or Rs 100. At atime like this, we write about agroup of close to 90 people inthe city who have been doingtheir bit, not just for our furryfriends, but trees and people too.

Called Nature RestorationCentre, it is a platform that bindstogether people and nature,working for a greener planet anda better tomorrow. Founded in2015, NRC has reached thou-sands of people and animals inneed. “We’ve regularly partneredwith Aanchal Khanna, an animallover in the city, who workstowards the betterment of straydogs. We’ve raised several funds,the most recent one, of up to70,000 rupees to ensure dogs of11 localities in the city were fedwell, vaccinated, and treatedproperly,” shares the founderRini Anweshi.

The organisation has also con-ducted drives where hundreds ofdogs were rescued, dewormed,fed, and vaccinated. They’ve alsoorganised an ‘Indie breed adop-tion drive’. “We’ve promoted andencourage pet owners in the cityto adopt dogs of Indian breeds.Some people are keen on buyingbreeds like a beagle, dachshund,German shepherd, and more. Weraised awareness about how,because of the climatic condi-tions here, our Indian breeds arethe ones that stand the test oftime and the cost to maintainand manage them too, is mini-mal,” Rini tells us.

The pandemic has helped peo-ple introspect, regret takingmother Earth for granted. Manyhave resolved to look for greener,sustainable options. The organi-sation has conducted several treeplantation programs across thecity. The pandemic has hit peo-ple hard, especially the secondwave. NRC has been at the fore-front, helping with blood dona-tion drives, free meal donationprograms, and more. They’vebeen feeding and caring for closeto 2,000 families to date, sharesAngel Dasari, one of the volun-teers of the group. “During the

second wave,several peoplepanicked,with no ideawhere to gofor help,injections,consulta-tions, andtests. We’vehad people ask-ing us forRemedesivir, blood,and plasma requests.Due to a shortage of beds andoxygen, we were able to helpeverybody that came with a

request. Weeven pooledin to buyoxygencylinders togive themaway forfree to those

who couldn’tafford it.

We’ve distrib-uted several gro-

cery kits, helped incash and kind, and were

able to provide medical assis-tance, free consultations, meals,and other needs,” informs Angel.

The organisation’s blanketdonations have been a blessingto several destitute.

They’ve conducted regular dri-ves to raise awareness aboutmenstrual hygiene among ado-lescent girls in the slums, andmany such activities with astrong urge to give back to thesociety.

A non-profit organisationworking for a better society torestore faith in humanity andalso towards environmental sus-tainability and to promoteawareness on the importance ofbiodiversity, the organisationthat recently turned six, hadKittu Vissapragada, a Tollywoodlyricist who penned famoussongs like Undiporadhey,Tharagathi Gadhi Ghati, andmany such gems, as their guestto celebrate their journey this far.

“I’m very happy and blessed tobe a part of NRC. I’ve joinedthem in 2017 and from then on,it has been an amazing journey.The smile that we see on people’sfaces when we do something forthem, drives us to do more andmore. Rini Anweshi, ourfounder, is an inspiration to allof us. Her caring, helpful, gen-uine nature keeps us all going,”Angel shares.

The organisation soon hopesto care for the orphaned childrenof Dhoolpet, who lost their fami-lies due to Covid. “They cannotdepend on their grandparentsand have nowhere to go. Wehope to help over 150 such fami-lies, after realising they needmore than just food and basicnecessities. Education, hygiene,and various issues need to beaddressed. Soon, our volunteerswill meet with these childrenevery Saturday and Sunday, andteach them basic things, ensurethey enroll themselves into goodgovernment schools, once theyopen. We’ve also been educatingthe kids and youth in the areaagainst substance abuse, encour-aging them to get vaccinated,facilitating what needs to bedone,” Rini concludes.

j

ina Khan has beenthe talk of the townever since her songBaarish Ban Jaanaturned out to be amajor hit. Her per-

formance in the song has lefteveryone mighty impressed.While Hina basks in the glory,the actress takes another hugestep in her career.

The actress turns producerwith her next venture. She isall set to star in a new film.Khan announced that the pro-ject is her first co-producedaward-winning film. Hina alsoshared a video of her story.

Hina Khan took toInstagram this morning, rag-ing excitement in her fans bysharing her first venture inwhere the star will be co-pro-ducing the film Lines.

Giving a short descriptionabout her character Hina

noted, “Meet NAZIA, in astory of a naive young girl,who makes her journeythrough the challenges createdby mankind. I’m so thrilled toannounce that my first co-pro-duced award-winning filmunder the banner @hirosfbf -LINES is releasing on @voots-elect. I can’t wait for you all towatch this pure love that we allhave worked on. #LinesOnVoot@rahatkazmi @rishi_bhutani#FaridaJalal”.”

Hina’s acting chops, thefilm’s first glimpse has blownover people’s minds as theycan’t wait to watch this onewith the actress not only actingbut also co-producing theOTT release.

Khan is known for her act-ing performance in the showYeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai.She became a household nameafter featuring on the show.

HINA KHAN TURNS

PRODUCER WITH

HER NEXT VENTURE!

he discussion ontoxic masculinityhas, for good rea-son, gatheredmomentum overthe last few years

as horrible experiences ofwomen came to light.There’s no denying thepower dynamic that existsacross all spheres of publicand private lives. It is animportant discussion andone that must go on becauseits objective is far from met.Male privilege itself leads tochallenges for men as well asit is inextricably linked tothe idea that men can’t bevulnerable — emotionally orphysically. It is a recurringtheme that shapes so muchabout male health.Recognition of vulnerabilityis so ‘unmanly’ that such asignificant part of our popu-lation would rather not dobe so even when it comes atthe cost of their health.

One way of looking attoxic masculinity is theexpectation-reality mis-match that confronts men.The stereotype of men notasking for directions is aninteresting manifestation ofthe same (‘I do not knowthe way, but I should knowthe way’) that is generallyamusing, but when it comesto healthcare the implica-tions are not funny for obvi-ous reasons. The perenniallydelayed medical checkup ora strange growth that oneshould have gotten looked atby a doctor a few monthsback are stories we haveheard from men around usroutinely.

It is the expectation of

invulnerability that clasheshead-on with reality.Perhaps, there is an evolu-tionary reason for theexpectation as, for a longtime, little could be doneabout a niggling pain orbuilding congestion in thechest by the hunter-gatherer.So, brazening it out was per-haps as good a strategy asany. However, instinctsinherited over time cansometimes lead to unintend-ed outcomes and poorerdecision-making. And withlonger life expectancy, men’sbodies go through changesand there are assorted healthimplications.

Increasing stress and anx-iety, unbalanced diet, insuf-ficient exercise, lifestylechoices and — to top it all— a sense of invulnerabilitycan at times create a perfectstorm as far as health goes.The increasing discussionon mental health around usnow can probably be betterif it factors in this specificidea of ‘manliness,’ and itsimplications. The likelihoodthat a mental health prob-lem is ignored by men iseven greater than for prob-lems that have a physicalmanifestation, because ofthe “it is all in the mind’narrative that itself is rooted

in the idea of men beingtough and resilient.Overcompensation forunaddressed mental healthissues, not surprisingly,often comes up when theworst of male behaviour —such as assault or abuse — isanalysed.

Another related categorywhere this challenge may bereflected is in sexual healthand wellness. On wall paint-ings and posters around busstands, in towns big andsmall across North India, wecan easily see the word,‘namardi’ for erectile dys-function in advertisementsfor the stigma-enhancing

‘gupt rog’ clinics. Browsingthrough the classifieds ofmost newspapers or evenwhen scrolling the internet,one may be surprised by thenumber of miraculous med-ications and ‘cures’ whichguarantee that your ‘prob-lem’ will last only till youpurchase the product.Embarrassed, many menquickly turn the page orclick on the ‘x’ button toclose the ad. In our space,the socio-cultural aspectsare undeniable.Conversations with menhave to toe a very fine linebecause there is a challengeat the acknowledgementstage itself. So, while it is afact that almost all menwould like to find ways—through supplements andmore —to be better at sex,they have a problemacknowledging that there isa problem. Even forextremely efficacious, clini-cally proven, herbal-originproducts, there is invariablyresistance due to what wecall, ‘othering,’ the phenom-enon of men recognisingthat it is great but other peo-ple would need it and they,individually, do not.

Across healthcare, toxicmasculinity is a factor, inthe seeking of care itself,and it is better — for menand society in general —that we develop newer, morecontemporary notions ofmasculinity in which vul-nerability is not a disqualifi-er but just a basic fact.

(The author, SuhasMishra, is the CEO ofMisters.in, a men’s sexualwellness website.)

H

mrita Sher-Gil’s 1938 paint-ing title ‘'In the LadiesEnclosure’ sold for Rs 37.8crore (US$ 5.14 million) ata Tuesday auction byMumbai-based auction

house Saffronart, setting a worldrecord for the highest value achievedby the artist in auction.

It is also the second-most expensivework of Indian art sold globally afterV S Gaitonde’s Untitled, 1961 whichsold for Rs 39.98 crore in March thisyear, said the auction house in a state-ment.

Sher-Gil (1913-1941) was aHungarian-Indian painter and hasbeen called one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20thcentury. The National Gallery ofModern Art in New Delhi also houses

a large collection of her works of art.The artwork went under the ham-

mer Saffronart’s Summer LiveAuction.

According to Saffronart CEO andCo-Founder Dinesh Vazirani, “Therecord-breaking sale of Amrita Sher-Gil’s seminal painting from 1938 titled‘In the Ladies Enclosure’ is a clearindication of her artistic merit and is atestament to her skill and talent.

“The work highlights her growthand development as an artist and is aculmination of years of coming intoher own as an artist of repute. It is,additionally, a rare work of the artistfrom that particular period to emergein the art market and we are honouredto have played a part in creating a newbenchmark with this auction,”Vazirani said in a statement.

Amrita Sher-Gil's paintingsets world record for theartist, sells for Rs 37.8 cr

T

Everybody says ‘I'm fine’

A

Rini Anweshi Angel Dasari

ThursdayJuly 15, 2021

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sport 11VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 15, 2021

PNS n NEW DELHI

The International CricketCouncil (ICC) onWednesday officially con-

firmed that teams will be award-ed standardised 12 points for awin, four for a draw and six fora tie during the second WorldTest Championship cycle whichkicks off with the five-matchseries between India andEngland in August.

The ICC further said thatpercentage of points won will beused to determine standings inthe 2021-23 cycle.

Earlier, each Test series car-ried a value of 120 points whichled to certain inequality in thetable as a team winning a Testin a two-match series got 60points compared to five-gameseries where a Test win is valuedat 24 points.

ICC Acting Chief ExecutiveGeoff Allardice said the changeswere made to simplify the pointssystem while taking learningsfrom the disruption last year.

“We received feedback thatthe previous points system need-ed to be simplified. The CricketCommittee took this into con-sideration when proposing anew, standardized points systemfor each match. It maintainedthe principle of ensuring that allmatches in a WTC series counttowards a team’s standing, whileaccommodating series varyingin length between two Tests andfive Tests,” Allardice said in anICC statement.

“During the pandemic wehad to change to ranking teamson the points table using the

percentage of available pointswon by each team, since allseries could not be completed.

“This helped us determinethe finalists and we were able tocomplete the championshipwithin the scheduled timeframe. This method alsoallowed us to compare the rel-ative performance of teams atany time, regardless of howmany matches they had played.”

Apart from the India-England series, the Ashes laterthis year in Australia will be theonly other five-match affair inthe second cycle which will endin June 2023.

Australia’s tour of Indianext year is the only four-Testseries in the upcoming cycle.

The nine Test teams willplay a total of six series — threehome and three away just likethe previous edition.

Reigning champion NewZealand skipper KaneWilliamson said WTC hasrevived people's interest in thetraditional format of the game.

“It was obviously prettyspecial to win the inaugural ICCWorld Test Championship inSouthampton last month and it’sexciting to now look ahead tothe second edition.

“The WTC has certainlyadded more context andbrought new meaning to Testcricket and it was awesome tosee the interest that was gener-ated around the Final againstIndia,” he said.

“We know trying to defendthe title will be a huge challenge,but our focus will be on mak-ing sure we prepare as well as wecan for the tours ahead and try-ing to maintain our level of per-formance.” England captain Joe

Root describes the upcomingfive-Test duel against India as an“interesting challenge”.

“We start our campaign inthe second edition of the ICCWorld Test Championshipagainst the finalists of last time,

which is an interesting challengestraight away,” he said.

“India are a fine all-roundside and it would be good to testthem in our home conditions.We narrowly missed out onqualifying for the final last time

and are looking to do better thistime.”

“Test cricket is a format weall want to excel in and withpoints at stake for each match,everyone has to be at their bestall the time.”

Equal points system for next WTCICC confirms that each team will get 12 points for win, 4 for draw in 2021-23 cycle

AFP n EDGBASTON

Pakistan captain Babar Azamreturned to form with a record-

breaking 158 yet once again foundhimself on the losing side as Englandcompleted a 3-0 One-Day Internationalseries clean sweep at Edgbaston onTuesday.

His highest score at this level sawAzam become the quickest player to 14hundreds in men’s ODIs as the 26-year-old reached the landmark in 81 innings— three fewer than South Africa’sHashim Amla.

Together with Mohammad Rizwanhe shared a stand of 179, a Pakistanpartnership record against England inan ODI.

Yet despite a total of 331-9,Pakistan still suffered a three-wicketdefeat after England’s James Vinceposted his maiden International hun-dred.

Azam, top of the ODI batting rank-ings, was back in the runs after a scoreof nought and 19 in the first two gamesbut that did not take the edge of thisreverse.

“We started well but were sloppyin the field,” he said. “We will learnfrom our mistakes.”

While Azam is no stranger toInternational hundreds, it took Vince

six years to register his first on theworld stage.

The 30-year-old Hampshire cap-tain at last reached three figures in a

50th innings for his country across allthree formats with a knock of 102.

“I hadn’t given up on this momentbut this time last week I didn’t expectit at all,” said Vince, who made hisEngland debut in May 2015.

“I wasn’t sure it was going tocome. I’ve played a number of gamesand not got there for England, but toscore a hundred for my country wasone of my dreams growing up. I’llnever forget that.”

PTI n COLOMBO

Handed captaincy for the SriLanka tour, Shikhar

Dhawan’s idea of leadership is allabout keeping the flock togeth-er and in a good state of mind.

“It is a big achievement forme that I have become the cap-tain of the Indian side. As aleader, my idea is to keep every-one together and happy - that isthe most important thing,”Dhawan said on Star Sportsshow Follow the Blues.

“We have got a lovely bunchof boys, great support staff, andwe have worked earlier as well.”

Dhawan says he shares agood chemistry with legendaryRahul Dravid, who is the headcoach for the series.

“I have a good relation withRahul bhai. When I startedplaying Ranji Trophy, I playedagainst him, and I have knownhim since then. When I went toplay India A match, I was thecaptain, and he was the coach,so there was interaction.

“When he became thedirector of NCA, we used to gothere for around 20 days, so wehad a lot of interaction, and nowwe have good chemistry. And

now that we have the chance toplay six matches together, so itwill be great fun, and I think weall sync nicely,” he said.

The selectors have pickedmany uncapped players, includ-ing the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwadand Chetan Sakariya, andDhawan wants the youngsters toenjoy their journey.

“Happy to get the young-sters in the team and see theirdreams come true. It’s a big thingthat these youngsters have comefrom their respective hometowns with certain dreams, andtheir dreams are getting fulfilled.

“And now, they should enjoythe journey which landed themin team India, and they shouldknow the value of their strengthand how to improve it,” he said.

Dhawan said that both theseniors and youngsters from thesquad will learn from eachother.

“There are seniors in theteam, so the youngsters willlearn from them, and we will getto learn from the youngsters.Whenever I meet the youngstersthey often have new ways ofthinking, and I try to learnthings which will help us,”Dhawan signed off.

Dhawan’s idea as a leader is tokeep everyone together, happy

AFP n TOKYO

Olympics chief Thomas Bachon Wednesday pledged

“not to bring any risk” to Japanwith the Games, seeking toreassure a sceptical public asvirus cases surge just over aweek before Tokyo 2020 begins.

Fans have been bannedfrom Olympic events in the cap-ital, which is under emergencyrestrictions to curb rising infec-tion numbers that onWednesday hit highs not seensince January.

As more athletes arrive inJapan and move into theOlympic Village, InternationalOlympic Committee chief Bachpromised a safe summerGames.

“We are making all ourefforts and the Japanese peoplehave all our commitment tocontribute in the best way tofight this virus and not to bringany risk to the Japanese people,”Bach told reporters after meet-ing Prime Minister YoshihideSuga.

Bach said “85 percent of allthe residents in the OlympicVillage and almost 100 percentof the IOC members and staffcoming here to Tokyo arrivevaccinated.

“This is why I’d like tohumbly ask the Japanese peopleto warmly welcome the athletesfrom all around the world whohave overcome, like the Japanesepeople, so many challenges.”

In an exchange with majorglobal press agencies later onWednesday, Bach said his teamhad strived to maintain a con-fident stance after Tokyo 2020was postponed in March last

year.“In these 15 months, we had

doubts every day. This was a sit-uation of high uncertainty,” hesaid.

“Quite honestly, it was way,way more complex than wethought it would be when weagreed on this postponement.”

But by projecting confi-dence and taking decisions seri-ously, the IOC kept other par-ties on side, from athletes tosports federations and localauthorities, Bach said.

“Only because they allstayed on board, we can be herenow, nine days before the open-ing of the Games.”

OATH-TAKERS INCREASEDThe number of oath-takers

at the Olympics opening cere-mony has been doubled fromthree to six for the Tokyo Gamesto ensure gender parity, the IOC

said while announcing that theoath has also been reworkedslightly to incorporate “inclu-sion and equality” in it.

The Olympic oath is takenby an athlete from the hostcounty, on behalf of all the com-petitors and the ceremony alsoincludes one coach and a judge.

This time, Japan will picktwo — one male and one female— from each group for theevent, which has been an inte-gral part of the Games since1920.

“The gender balance of theoath-takers is just one of a largenumber of decisions and com-mitments from the IOC and theOrganising Committee to pro-mote women in sport at all lev-els and in all structures, as stat-ed in the Olympic Charter,” theIOC said.

Two words — inclusionand equality — have been

added to the opening line of theOath.

Depending on the groupthat is speaking, the new oathreads: “In the name of the ath-letes”, “In the name of all judges”or “In the name of all thecoaches and officials”.

REUFGEE OFFICIAL +VEDoha: An official of the IOC’srefugee team has tested positivefor Covid-19 here, leading to adelay in their travel plans for theTokyo Games even though allothers have returned negativeresults for now.

The official, who has beenisolated by the Qatari PublicAuthorities, is consideredasymptomatic and doing well.

The refugee team in theOlympics was first introducedin the 2016 Rio Games as a trib-ute to the courage and persever-ance of all refugees.

IOC chief vows to minimise virus risk to Japan

AP n TOKYO

Athletes at the TokyoOlympics will put their

medals around their ownnecks to protect againstspreading the coronavirus.

The “very significantchange” to traditional medalceremonies in the 339 eventswas revealed on Wednesday byIOC president Thomas Bach.

“The medals will not begiven around the neck,” Bachtold international media on aconference call.

“They will be presented tothe athlete on a tray and then

the athlete will take the medalhim or herself.”

“It will be made sure thatthe person who will put themedal on tray will do so onlywith disinfected gloves so thatthe athlete can be sure thatnobody touched them before,”Bach added.

Bach also confirmed thatin Tokyo “there will be noshake hands and there will beno hugs there during the cer-emony.”

The IOC had previouslysaid medallists and ceremonyofficials would have to wearmasks.

Olympic athletes to put on ownmedals at Tokyo ceremonies

PTI n TOKYO

Japan’s Emperor Naruhito islikely to attend the opening

ceremony of the TokyoOlympics on July 23 anddeclare the Games open.

The Olympics host coun-try is making arrangements forthe emperor’s attendance at theopening ceremony, Kyodo newsagency reported.

The report said Naruhito“is prepared to also meet with

visiting foreign dignitaries atthe Imperial Palace.”

However, imperial familymembers are unlikely to watchother events after theOrganising Committee decid-ed to stage almost all of thecompetitions behind closeddoors to prevent the spread ofthe coronavirus, according tothe report.

The 61-year-old emperoris the honorary patron of theTokyo 2020 Olympics and

Paralympics.Naruhito is the third

emperor to have accepted therole of honorary patron and thefirst to have assumed it for boththe Olympics and Paralympics.

His father, EmperorAkihito, declared the openingof the 1998 Nagano WinterGames, while his grandfather,Emperor Hirohito, proclaimedthe start of both the 1964Tokyo Summer Games and the1972 Sapporo Winter Games.

Japan’s Emperor Naruhitolikely to open Olympics

IOC President Thomas Bach, left, meets Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Sugaduring his courtesy call at the latter's official residence in Tokyo on Wednesday AP

PTI n LONDON

Ravichandran Ashwin sound-ed a warning bell for the

English batsmen ahead of thefive-Test series with a superbmatch-turning spell of 6 for 27as Surrey bundled out Somersetfor 69 in their second innings ofthe English CountyChampionship contest here.

Looking to get some quali-ty match practice ahead of join-ing the Indian in Durham onThursday, Ashwin did morethan enough with 58 oversunder his belt and a match haulof 7 for 127.

If the first innings was usedtowards about building bowlingworkload and hitting the goodareas, the second innings wasmore about showing his skill-sets with the famous carrom ballbamboozling opposition bats-men. In fact, the veteran off-spinner bowled 15 unchangedovers with the new Dukes andgot able support from left armspinner Dan Moriarty who took

4 for 20 as Somerset were all outfor 69 in only 29.1 overs afterscoring 429 in their first essay.

Ashwin ran through theopposition getting enough driftand also using the carrom balland off-breaks judiciously.

Left-handed opener StevenDavis edged one to wicketkeep-er Jamie Smith while JadenClark caught Tom Lammonby.

Skipper and first innings centu-rion James Hildreth wasadjudged plumb in-front whenhe missed a straighter one.

The difference from firstinnings was extra bounce thatAshwin got off the pitch and onesuch flighted delivery, turned ashade and bounced enough tofool George Bartlett who shoul-dered arms.

Ashwin warns Poms with 6-for Vince leads Eng to Pak whitewash

England's James Vince, left, celebrates with LewisGregory after scoring a century AP

London: Eoin Morgan will return tolead England in the upcoming T20series against Pakistan it wasannounced on Wednesday after hemissed their ODI clean sweep follow-ing a Covid-19 outbreak within thehost’ camp.

Only four of the England playersinvolved in the ODI success havebeen retained for the three T20s, withcenturion Vince omitted.

Saqib Mahmood, Lewis Gregoryand Matt Parkinson have all beenincluded in a 16-man squad afterstarring in the ODIs, with T20 regularDawid Malan keeping his place.

Jos Buttler has also been includedfollowing a calf injury.

Stokes, however, has been rested

ahead of a five-match Test series athome to India starting in August, withbowlers Mark Wood, Chris Woakesand Sam Curran absent as well.

SQUADMorgan (capt), Moeen Ali, JonnyBairstow, Jake Ball, Tom Banton, JosButtler (wkt), Tom Curran, LewisGregory, Chris Jordan, LiamLivingstone, Saqib Mahmood, DawidMalan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid,Jason Roy, David Willey

FIXTURESJuly 16: 1st T20, Trent BridgeJuly 18: 2nd T20, HeadingleyJuly 20: 3rd T20, Old Trafford

AFP

Morgan returns to lead in T20Is

PNS n NEW DELHI

An Olympic medal missingfrom his own cupboard,

Indian hockey great DhanrajPillay believes the supremely fitteam going for the upcomingTokyo Games has what it takesto finish on the podium and endthe medal drought which hisgeneration of players could not.

Pillay, who representedIndia in four consecutiveOlympics from 1992 to 2004,said fitness is the key asset of theManpreet Singh-led side goinginto the Summer Games thatbegins on July 23 in Tokyo.

“I am very confident theywill do it this time. They havebeen doing well in the last fiveyears. Fitness is their biggestasset. In those days, we didn’thave the kind of support systemthey have now,” the 52-year-oldPillay said in Hockey India’sFlashback series.

“This team has done won-ders, won hearts of millions offans with their recent perfor-mances, particularly at theChampions Trophy (in 2016and 2018) and the World

League Finals (2015 and 2017).I know they can do it thistime,” he added.

Pillay advised both theTokyo-bound teams not tothink too far ahead.

“I think the mistake we didat every Olympic Games wasthat we went with the mind setof aiming for the final instead oftaking it match-by-match.

“Though we had the bestteams each time, things did notmaterialise for us to finish onthe podium,” he signed off.

VARUN, SIMRANJEET IN Defender Varun Kumar

and mid-fielder SimranjeetSingh are set to make theirOlympic debuts after they wereadded to India’s men’s hockeysquad following the IOC’s deci-sion to allow ‘alternate athletes’in team events because of theCovid-19 pandemic.

While Varun andSimranjeet were late inclusionsin the men’s team, defenderReena Khokhar and experi-enced mid-fielder NamitaToppo were added to thewomen’s side.

Manpreet & Co can break India’smedal drought in Tokyo: Pillay

WWOORRLLDD TTEESSTT CCHHAAMMPPIIOONNSSHHIIPP

POINTS AVAILABLE PER SERIES

POINTS SSYSTEM

Points available Percentage per match of points

Win 12 100

Tie 6 50

Draw 4 33.33

Loss 0 0

Teams to ranked on % of points won

Over rate penalty is -1 point per over behind

Matches in Series Total pts available

2 24

3 36

4 48

5 60

WWOORRLLDD TTEESSTT CCHHAAMMPPIIOONNSSHHIIPP2021-223 CCYCLE

MEMBER HOME AWAY

Australia (18) ENG (5) SA (3) WI (2) IND (4) PAK (2) SL (2)

Bangladesh (12) PAK (2) IND (2) SL (2) SA (2) NZ (2) WI (2)

England (22) IND (5) SA (3) NZ (3) PAK (3) WI (3) AUS (5)

India (19) SL (3) NZ (2) AUS (4) BAN (2) ENG (5) SA (3)

New Zealand (13) SA (2) BAN (2) SL (2) ENG (3) PAK (2) IND (2)

Pakistan (13) AUS (2) ENG (3) NZ (2) SL (2) BAN (2) WI (2)

South Africa (15) IND (3) WI (2) BAN (2) AUS (3) ENG (3) NZ (2)

Sri Lanka (13) WI (2) AUS (2) PAK (2) BAN (2) NZ (2) IND (3)

West Indies (13) PAK (2) BAN (2) ENG (3) AUS (2) SA (2) SL (2)

*Matches in Brackets

12

Vijayawada Thursday July 15, 2021 tollywood

ctress Amala Paul who start-ed her acting career at 17, hasproved her mettle in Tamil,Telugu and Malayalam indus-tries. Nearly 12 years into theprofession, as she gears up for

the release of her Telugu web seriesKudi Yedamaithe, she reflects back onher journey and feels it is about time sheseparated her personal and professionallives.

“I am what I am. I came into theindustry when I was 17 and whatever Ihave gone through personally reflectedin my work and vice versa. I cannot takeone out of the other or maybe I didn’tknow the art of separating the two. I cansay that about myself until 2019,” sheshares.

Amala continues, “But 2020 has beena very enlightening year for me. When Iwas going through my father’s death in avery conscious way, it was a very intro-spective phase for me. I had this realisa-tion that I felt very naked. I felt like anopen book. I had this realisation that Idon’t have anything as my own, as myprivate life and everything was outthere. I felt like my life has been misin-terpreted beyond anything I could havedone.”

Having spent over a decade in thefilm industry, Amala, who was earliermarried to director AL Vijay, has learnthow to deal with the constant interestpeople have in her personal life.

“When I look back, I do feel badabout it but I also have the wisdom tounderstand that I don’t have any controlover these things, and when I don’t havecontrol over these things, I can justgracefully move ahead in life. I alsounderstand that this is part and parcelof this job and there is a social responsi-bility that I have. It’s not just me, that is

how some things are the way it is,” shesays.

“I realised I have a choice I didn’tknow about earlier. Now, I am workingon separating my private life from mywork life. That is the art that I am prac-ticing and I really want to. Before Inever felt it and I was quite open aboutwhat was happening in my life. Now, Irealise that may be the spirit in which Iwas sharing that or my intention wasnot received as it was,” she adds.

“Everyone is in different stages oftheir lives and I was hoping that theycan understand how I am perceiving it.I have reached that point in my lifewhere I am comfortable not sharing somuch,” says the actress, who has alsoshot for a Hindi web series but is await-ing its release.

Amala will be seen in the Teluguseries Kudi Yedamaithe, in which sheplays the role of a cop named Durga.

The actress says she has played thecharacter effortlessly as opposed tobeing very harsh on herself like in earli-er times.

“An interesting thing about this pro-ject for me is that, usually I have atendency to overprepare. I experi-ment too much with my roles andthat has been draining me. So, withthis character I have been thinkinghow I can make this charactereffortless,” she says.

“During last year’s lockdown,a lot of introspection happened.I just wanted to intuitively fol-low the artiste in me. I knewDurga and there were manyscript reading sessions. Iknew her job, her eco-nomical condition. Iknew I was going tomeet her. I just

wanted to organi-cally meet thecharacter withoutcreating it in myhead and itturned out to bebeautiful,” saysthe actress abouther role in theAha originalseries.

AMALA PAUL: WORKINGON SEPARATING PRIVATELIFE FROM WORK LIFE

Ahe trailer ofVenkateshDaggubatiandPriyamani’smuch antic-

ipated Telugu action-drama film, Narappawas launched onWednesday. Set in thefields of AndhraPradesh, the emotionaland gripping saga of afarmer and his family,the film is sure to tug at all the heartstrings keepingthe audience hooked till the end.

Narappa is a gripping drama with layered story,said film’s co-producer Suresh Babu following thetrailer release of the movie on Wednesday.

Billed as an emotional saga starring VenkateshDaggubati and Priyamani, Narappa showcases theheart-wrenching story of a farmer, his family andtheir struggle to survive through harsh uncertainties.

Directed by Srikanth Addala and also produced byKalaippuli S Thanu, the film is slated to premiere

on July 20 on Amazon Prime Video.Set in the fields of Andhra Pradesh, the action

drama follows Narappa (Venkatesh) and theunseen struggles of a farmer.

“Narappa is a story that holds a specialplace ‘in our hearts’”, said producer Babu.

“Its narrative is layered and quitethought-provoking. From Venkatesh toPriyamani, every cast as well as crew mem-

bers have put in an incredible amount of loveand dedication to bring this story alive. We

wanted every viewer to leave with more thanjust a story and that is exactly what this gripping

drama has to offer,” the filmmaker said in a state-ment.

Producer Thanu said he is honoured to be a partof this ‘phenomenal film’. “The film’s core message isvery powerful. It does not shy away from the truths.

I am certain that it will impact in ways that no onewould expect. I am incredibly happy that we areable to showcase our film to audiences across 240countries and territories,” he added.

Actors Ammu Abhiraami, Karthik Rathnam,Rajsekhar Aningi, Rao Ramesh and RajivKanakala also round out the cast of the film.

Gopichand-Sriwassreunite for third project

ctor Gopichandknown for hishigh octane actionentertainers, hasannounced hisnext with his

dearest buddy, with whom hebagged to hits in his career.According to the latestupdate, Gopichand will be

teaming with directorSriwass for this high profileproject.

Movie lovers pinned a lotoff hopes on this film as theduo earlier delivered hits likeLakshyam and Loukyam. TG.Vishwa Prasad and VivekKuchibhotla are bankrollingthe project on People’s MediaFactory.

The film’s regular shootwill start soon and the mak-ers will announce moredetails about the rest of thecast and crew in the comingdays. Bhupathi Raja is pro-viding story for his filmwhich is touted to be a feelgood family entertainer.Gopichand is currently busywith his current projectsPakka Commercial and SeetiMarr and his long delayedreject Aaradugula Bullet isracing for a grand release.

S Rajamouli’smuch-awaitedmultilingual andmulti-starrer pro-ject RRR, which isslated to hit the

theaters on October 13 thisyear, has completed its shootrecently except for two songs.A glimpse into the making ofthe movie will be releasedtoday at 11 am.

Apart for his ensemblecast, recently a photo ofRapper Blaaze along withmusic director Keeravani isgrabbing all the attention of

movie lovers. It is knownthat Chennai-born rapper,Rapper Blaaze is the firstSanskrit rapper in the world.

Rapper Blaaze’s real nameis Lakshmi Narasimha VijayaRajagopala Sheshadri SharmaRajesh Raman, a name dedi-cated to his ancestors. It isknown that SS Rajamouliuses Sanskrit poems in hismovies and now we havereports coming in thatRapper Blaaze is usingSanskrit poems for the roarof RRR along with musicdirector Keeravani.

RapperBlaaze magic

in RRR

nand Deverakonda,after winning heartswith his perfor-mance in his debutfilm Dorasani, isgearing up for the

release of Pushpaka Vimanam,whose song was recentlyreleased by SamanthaAkkineni.

Meanwhile, the actor, whohas his hands full has com-menced shooting of his filmtitled Highway.

Popular cinematographerKV Guhan is the director ofthis film, produced by VenkatTalari under his Sree IswaryaLakshmi Movies banner. Theroad movie with interestingtwists and turns and a psychocrime thriller backdrop, carriesthe tagline ‘A Nerve-wrackingRide Story’.

Manasa Radhakrishnan isthe leading lady in the filmwhich was recently launchedamid fanfare.

Announcing the commence-ment of shoot, the film’s teamhas released a new poster fea-turing Anand Deverakondaand Manasa Radhakrishna.The young couple looksabsolutely adorable in the still.

“We are making Highway tobe a psycho crime thriller in

the direction of Guhan garu inour banner Sree IswaryaLakshmi Movies. We are mak-ing this film with high techni-cal values on a grand scale.Anand Deverakonda andManasa Radhakrishnan areplaying the lead roles. We willannounce the details of theentire cast soon,” said producer

Venkat. Sharing a few details of the

film, director KV Guhan said,“This is my third film as adirector. It is a psycho crimethriller with a highway back-drop. The film will be muchadvanced technically. Simon KKing’s music will be a specialattraction in this film.”

Narrative ofNarappa islayered and

thoughtprovoking:

Suresh Babu

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Highway shoot takes off

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